Murang'a County Woman Representative Sabina Chege on Tuesday, June 30 announced various measures she planned to implement to curb teenage pregancies in her county.
She spoke as a reported surge in teenage pregnancies during the Covid-19 period continued to shock the nation. For example, 4,000 teen pregnancies were reported in Machakos County in the last three months.
Chege, who also chairs the National Assembly Health Committee, held a meeting with Murang'a County Commissioner Mohammed Bare and all Deputy County Commissioners to come up with ways to deal with teen pregnancies.
With Murang'a having recorded 183 teenage pregnancies in three months, Chege shared a raft of measures she hoped would curb the situation including the formation of a County Security Multi-Agency Team Against Teenage Pregnancies.
The Multi-Agency Team, she noted, would hunt down perpetrators responsible for teenage pregnancies in the country and would include members from different security agencies.
Another team, known as the County Emergency Committee Against Teenage Pregnancies will also be formed to take a grass-roots, community-based approach to combat teenage pregnancies.
"The committee will be created at any administration unit right from the county level headed by the county Commissioner, Sub-county level headed by the Deputy County Commissioner, Division level headed by the Assistant County Commissioner, Location Level headed by the Chiefs and Sub Locations level headed by the Assistant Chiefs.
The Committees will be comprised of Education Stakeholders , Health stakeholders , Child Department stake holders, County Government, National Police Service , NGOs and Judiciary officials.
"The committee will be on a ground mission to ensure the vice is zero-rated in Murang'a county from the grass-roots level," the Woman Representative wrote.
She further announced that they would begin registering all pregnant students in Murang'a under the Linda Mama program to ensure they access quality healthcare,
Chege also revealed plans to begin regular visits to young mothers in different areas, stating that they would soon begin in Gatanga Constituency.
In addition, she announced that they would create a 'list of shame' to publicly identify and shame those responsible for teenage pregnancies.
In collaboration with development partners, Chege also plans to construct a rescue centre in Murang'a County for children who have been defiled, rejected at home and those rescued from early marriages.
Chege also plans to work closely with FIDA to expedite cases against those responsible for teenage pregnancies in addition to providing legal support to victims.
