Malala decries Sh1 million, zero budget for Kakamega Children’s services
Douglas Dindi
Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala has expressed discontent over the Sh1 million budget set aside for the county’s Department of Children Services and a zero budgetary allocation for youth in the current fiscal year.
Malala said the county government had neglected service delivery, particularly touching on youths and children.
Speaking on Friday during the closing session of the county dialogue on teen pregnancy, the lawmaker said the county was ranked highly on paper because the administration lays more emphasis on “brick, mortar and iron sheets” at the expense of social service delivery.
“The administration has no budget for activities to engage our youths during the holidays. The budget for Children's Department is Sh1 million no wonder statistics show that estimated 20,000 teens become pregnant every year,” he said.
He said there was a need for the county government to develop policies and establish structures to deal with the teen pregnancy menace.
Governor Wycliffe Oparanya's adviser on gender issues Penina Mukabane said available statics indicated that between January and September this year, 14,000 teens became pregnant in the county, meaning at least 56 teenage girls conceive each day.
“Perhaps bringing the boy child on board would help because at the moment every programme emphasises on the girl child, yet for every pregnancy, a man is involved,” she said.
Mukabane said her office has issued an advisory on the need to establish a committee complete with a budget to handle gender-based violence and teen pregnancies.
