The wife of ODM leader Raila Odinga, Ida Odinga launched a nationwide campaign against teenage pregnancies and child marriages an issue that President Uhuru Kenyatta has warned perpetrators over.
In a statement to newsrooms on Tuesday, July 28, Ida through the Mama Ida Odinga Trust stated that the organisation would embark on a three-month campaign across all counties.
The foundation will partner with the wives of all 47 governors who will be expected to run the county chapters.
"We will also involve Administration Structures to reinvigorate the 'Nyumba Kumi' initiative and the Kenya Police Service in enforcing and educating the public to ensure girls and boys complete their school-going uninterrupted by unintended pregnancies and child marriage," a statement by the foundation read in part.
Ida Odinga has been a vocal advocate against teenage pregnancies and has raised concern over the rising number of such cases.
"It is already alarming that the numbers of reported pregnancies have skyrocketed during the initial phase of the lockdown. It may get worse if nothing is done to salvage the situation," she stated in June 2020 noting that only a small percentage went back to school after getting pregnant.
Ida further blamed local leaders for failing to protect young girls assuring that she would hold such leaders accountable.
"I will go to court if our leaders cannot protect girls from sex predators. If I hear any more cases of young girls being impregnated, I will sue these leaders. In huge gatherings, you are likely to see many young men, but not girls. This is because most of them are at home nursing babies," she stated in November while addressing residents in Sigomere Ward, Siaya County.
The government has also raised the alarm over worrying statistics of teenage pregnancies with President Uhuru Kenyatta on July 3, warning that there would be hell to pay for those who have impregnated minors across the country.
He warned that those responsible for impregnating minors would face the full wrath of the law once DNA results were out and noted that area chiefs would be answerable on how school-going children were defiled under their watch.
A report by the National Council on Population and Development (NCPD) showed that two out of five teenagers in Kenya are either young mothers or pregnant
Since the pandemic was reported in the country in early March, 20, 828 girls aged between 10 and 14 years have become mothers while older girls aged between 15-19 years, 24,106 are either pregnant or mothers already.
