Girl spends night in hyena-infested wilderness to evade forced marriage

Had Ilbisil chief Lenoti Letene delayed even for a few seconds on Thursday, a 17-year-old girl from his village in Kajiado  Central Sub-county could have been handed over to a 50-years-old suitor with her her father receiving six cows as bride price.

The last few days have been a swim against rip currents for the girl who wrote her Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education exams last year and managed a D- grade.

The grade did not stop her resolve to continue with her education.

The dejected girl told Nation she learned of her father's plan to marry her off to a polygamous man in exchange for a six cows bride price last weekend.

She said her plea to her father not to forcefully marry her off fell on deaf ears prompting her to run away from their Ilbisil home to a relative at Metto village a few kilometres away.

"I pleaded with my dad not to marry me off but he became adamant and I decided to run for my safety," she narrated to Nation at Ilbisil police station on Thursday, moments after she was rescued by the local chief.

However, when her father learned that his daughter had sought refuge at a relative’s home, he pursued her, prompting the minor to escape at night into a nearby wilderness.

"I knew my goose was cooked and took to my heels in the cover of darkness. I braved the night cold. The squeaks of hyenas did not scare me. I knew my dad was determined to marry me off," she added.

Sneak her away

On Wednesday, a relative managed to sneak her away to her uncle who resides in Isinya, Kajiado East sub-county, but he informed her father who went for her immediately.

"My uncle must have called my father about my whereabouts as he came that evening. They had a lengthy discussion and decided I had to accompany him (my dad) home on Thursday morning," she said, adding that the uncle approved of her dad’s decision to marry her off.

Luckily, the girl had a mobile phone and sought the local chief's mobile number from a friend.

That is when she alerted the Ilbisil chief about the plan via text message.

By the time father and daughter reached Ilbisil town –and moments before the suitor arrived-- the chief flanked by a police officer ambushed them and rescued the girl.

Throughout the journey, the girl had been updating the chief of their movements via SMS not to blow her cover.

"I was right on time before the girl was handed over to the suitor. It’s an unfortunate incident amounting to a violation of the girl's rights. The law will take its course,” the chief warned.

There was an argument at the police station when the father claimed his daughter had attained 18 years.

Security officers then requested the girl's birth certificate to ascertain her age.

However, the girl’s father managed to slip away from the authorities before he was put into custody.

The man is said to have lost most of his livestock to drought leaving him unable to provide for his family.

Token in cash

He is alleged to have pocketed a token in cash from his would-be "in-law". Police have launched a manhunt for the man.

The girl, who aspires to be a teacher, has been placed in a local safe house.

Local girls' rights crusader Ntinte Paita condemned the incident terming it barbaric and selfish.

"It's high time the local community shunned retrogressive cultures that demean girls and deny them their rights," Ms Paita said.

The Nation has established that there is a new trend in Kajiado County where some Men, who have lost their livestock to the ongoing drought, are forcing their underage daughters into marriages in exchange for a few heads of cattle as bride price.

Ms Susan Kipuli, a local, lamented that some men are now "selling their daughters like livestock for an income in the name of bride price”.

"The drought has wiped our animals. Selfish men have now turned to their daughters for bride price. It’s their unorthodox means to restock their herd," she said bitterly.

Two weeks ago Kajiado county County Commissioner Felix Watikila warned chiefs and their assistant against abetting underage marriages.

This was after a chief was accused of helping a minor enter a forced marriage within his area of jurisdiction.