By Joab Apollo
Whether the girl is conducting routine household chores or comfortably strolling on the walkway from a shop or market, Kenyan parents are restless. This restlessness has nothing to do with the prevailing tough economic times in the country or the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic, but an intricate web of cultists and sex predators whose ruthlessness has left dozens of girls in their teenage dead or depressed after rape and murder ordeals.
The bloodcurdling tales continue to reveal a society that has fallen victim to lawlessness and a generation of adults who have thrown morals out of the window to quench sexual thirst or make money through shortcuts. The latest to shock the East African country being the cold blood murder of 13 year old Linda Cherono, who was waiting for a call up to join a secondary school after a masterly show in the Kenya Certificate of Primary School Education exams.
Linda had gone missing five days ago at Moi’s Bridge town, Uasin Gishu County, where she had gone to visit her dotting aunt as she awaited to join a new phase of her education life. Little did she know that this visit would land her in the cruel hands of what police have suspected to be blood thirsty ritualists
Her lifeless body was found mutilated in a maize plantation within the town, just two days after that of another girl, Najima Abdullahi was found lifeless in Changamwe, Mombasa County, after going missing for five days.
Others have been found lured into sex dens for ponographic business, a development which parents blame on the easy access to pornographic sites by teenagers.
“I would like to warn parents against giving their phones to children. Many of them get hooked to pornographic sites and Facebook where they fall prey to sex predators,” said Anne Awino, of Kitengela, whose daughter went missing after school but was found unconscious in Nairobi.
“She must have been lured into sex activity by unscrupulous men she met on Facebook.”She added
According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigation- DCI, the predators have devised new ways of prowling on unsuspecting teenagers using social networking sites.
“The predators prey on the young girls through their social media accounts, where they obtain their personal details before they lure them into their trap,” the state agency said in its public statement.
“Parents are advised to monitor their children’s activities and the people they socialize with, since cases of young girls being abducted for slavery and sexual exploitation are on the rise.” The statement added.
Since the Advent of Facebook, many parents have registered their children or allowed themselves to use on the platform and other sites, exposing them to shaddy men and dirty content.
Kenyan constitution bars those under 18 years old from registering phone numbers and emails, the key pre-requisites of owning phones, but some parents have ignored the law.
“These days you find children as young as three owning phones just because parents think it is cool. We are destroying this new generation instead of nurturing it into a responsible citizenry.” Said Stephen Kiogera who has vowed to outlaw the use of phones in his house by his children until they reach the age of 18.
