Why many Meru teen girls are getting pregnant

When Winfred Kinya got pregnant at the age of 17 years in 2014, her life changed for worse. The Form Three girl dropped out of school before going into depression, sometimes contemplating suicide.

Covered with shame and stigma, she left her parent’s home and went to live with her grandmother - at least to shield herself from ridicule.

Conversely, the father of her firstborn, a neighbour, never took responsibility and no action was taken against him.

“When I got pregnant, it was a shocker to my parents who were struggling to pay for my education. They lost interest in educating me because I had become a shame to the family. I had brought in an extra burden to them. It was so depressing,” Ms Kinya narrates from her salon at Muriri Market on the Meru-Maua highway.

In 2019, however, her life was transformed through a programme by Community Initiatives for Rural Development (Ciford), a community-based organisation that rehabilitates young mothers.

Ciford founder Margaret Ikiara says Ms Kinya and more than 50 other young mothers aged below 22, were taken through counselling, taught about nutrition for their babies and given vocational and financial skills to start off life.

“When we started the young mothers programme, we did not expect there were as many pregnant teens in Tigania region. Most of the girls we took in were depressed, desperate and emaciated. The first thing was to get them out of their sorry state,” Ms Ikiara says.

Table banking

With support from the organisation, Ms Kinya did a hairdressing course.  Between 2019 and 2020, she raised enough capital through table banking, to buy hairdressing equipment, rented a shop and went into business at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I am now happy and my parents have embraced me. I can fend for my children without relying on others. My first born is now in school and has brought a gift for emerging top three in their class. I am a proud mother,” she says.

Unfortunately as Ms Kinya was putting herself together in 2020, another 14,573 Meru girls were getting into the predicament she was in, back in 2014.

data

Data from the Meru County health department shows that 1,328 girls aged between 10 and 14 and 13,245 teens aged between 15 and 19 were pregnant in 2020 accounting for 38 per cent of all pregnancies in the county.

Out of the more than 14,500 pregnancies, 5,274 were recorded between January and May 2020.

Further, data from the Ministry of Education indicate that 234 girls from Meru County wrote their Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) while pregnant.

And just like in Ms Kinya’s case, majority of the teen girls will have their lives disrupted, while the men who defiled them go on with life unperturbed.

But why are so many teen girls getting pregnant in Meru? Igembe North Deputy County Commissioner Harrison Ndwili cites parental negligence, poverty and a thriving boda boda industry where most of the youth eke out a living. 

The claim of parental negligence is backed by data from the Igembe Children office, which indicates that more than 2,100 cases of child neglect were reported between July 2019 and June 2020.

“There is lack of mentorship from parents. Parents have absconded duty and no longer know what is happening to their children. We have many fathers under our watch after being reported for abandoning their responsibility,” Ndwili says.

Boda boda business

The administrator also explains that the miraa business has attracted many young men, as they are preferred for climbing the trees to pluck the twigs.

“As a result, many boys drop out of school to venture into business. In most schools, there are more girls than boys because only 50 per cent of the boys who join Class One complete school. Many of them are now in boda boda business. Most of the girls are impregnated by these young men,” he says.

With some parents unable to provide basic needs for their girls, Mr Ndwili says, they are easily lured by moneyed young men.

Reuben Maingi, a parent, from Athiru Gaiti says the community has lowered its moral guard and no one seems to care.

“It is public knowledge that the youth engage in sex in public spaces at a primary school and a coffee factory. This happens between 6pm and 10pm as adults watch but no action is being taken,” he says.

Mr Maingi also admits that teenage pregnancies have been embraced in the region. He recounts how his eldest daughter became a laughing stock after her younger sister got a baby before her.

“The talk among girls and women was that my eldest daughter is barren. The ridicule ended when she was married and got children,” Mr Maingi adds.

But are the perpetrators taking responsibility and facing justice?

To reverse some of the consequences of teen pregnancies, the government in January, issued a directive to chiefs and school heads, requiring all pregnant girls to be facilitated to go back to school. They were to be tracked down to the remotest villages.

Perpetrators

"Girls who have delivered must be allowed back while those who may not be comfortable to go back due to stigma, should be helped to transfer to a nearby day school," Public Service PS Mary Kimonye directed during an inspection of schools in January.

According to James Mithika, the proprietor of Laare Maternity and Nursing Home in Igembe North, there was something amiss with the largely publicised government directive; there was no call for action against the perpetrators.

Igembe Children officer John Mwangi, says 11 defilement cases went through the justice system between July 2019 and June 2020, for incidents covering Igembe Central, Igembe South and Igembe North.

Another four cases of incest involving children aged between six and 15, were recorded in the area during the same period. This is despite the three sub-counties accounting for the bigger chunk of underage pregnancies for long.

In 2020, the region had more than 7,500 teenage pregnancies where Maua Methodist Hospital served more than 180 mothers aged between 13 and 19 years from August 2020 to March 2021.

Nyambene Level IV Hospital, which serves the Igembe region recorded 2,186 teen deliveries accounting for 38 per cent of all deliveries totalling 5,795 between July 2019 and June 2020.

As a result, Mr Mithika says the government is not keen on enforcing the law, neither is the community willing to take action.

 He says that in the recent past, the facility has recorded a surge in underage mothers, but the same cannot be said of the number of defilement cases filed in court.

“Just like the government had no mention of the perpetrators when it was pushing pregnant girls to go back to school, the community has also embraced underage pregnancies. When the defilement happens, no one takes any action because it has been normalised and the age of consent has been illegally adjusted,” Mr Mithika notes.

 He adds, “The legal system is based on someone complaining, hence the parents, despite knowing the perpetrators, do not report to the police for action.”

Kangaroo Community Care programme coordinator Joseph Gichunge, who has worked in the Igembe community for years, agrees that there is reluctance to use legal channels in cases of defilement.

“In some families, pregnancies are seen as a blessing. When teen boys are involved, the girl or her relatives are left to shoulder the burden of parenting. These are the impediments to access to justice,” Mr Gichunge explains.

He says when the perpetrator is rich or known to the family of the defiled girl, there are high chances that justice will never be served.

Ms Rita Mugure, from Maua observes that the community is not keen on having justice served for the defiled girls.

“In my village, there is a man known to have defiled and impregnated several girls, but he is still at large. At one time, he was taken through the traditional justice system and fined, but he is still known to impregnate teenagers,” she says.

Ruth Kananu, a nominated MCA, admits that parental and community effort is needed to tame underage pregnancies.

“Our culture is clear that a child belongs to the community. It is against this background that everyone should take responsibility to end teen pregnancies. This can be done by guiding our teenagers and ensuring perpetrators are punished,” Ms Kananu says.

 Karambu Kailemia, a woman leader in Meru County, says men who impregnate underage girls must face justice if the vice is to be eliminated.

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This story is done with support from Journalists for Human Rights (JHR).