Shame of grandpas using 'pesa ya wazee' to lure girls
There are many unreported cases of old men using the cash transfer money to lure girls into defilement.
What you need to know:
- Busia is among the counties with the highest prevalence of sexual violence.
- In Murang’a County, a grandfather, aged 60, will spend 30 years in jail for defiling his seven-year-old granddaughter.
- Last February, a Mombasa Magistrate court jailed a 65-year-old man for 45 years for kidnapping and sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl.
An 82-year-old man defiled Lofa* in February 2021, in a village in Busia County. This was a few days after he received his Ksh2,000 monthly cash transfer for the elderly.
She was aged 14 then. The ‘grandpa’ had asked Lofa to bring him firewood to his house before violating her in his house. He rewarded her with Ksh10 and warned her against letting the cat out of the bag.
But young girl was dying inside. She was afraid of sharing the issue with her mother as she considered the older man a respected elder in the village.
She chose to confide in her friend who apparently had also been repeatedly abused by the old man and given Sh10 afterwards.
Worried of falling victim to his sexual abuse again, she opened up to her mother who reported him to the local chief.
But he denied committing the crime and he was let go.
Sexual violence
Lofa and her friend's cases of abuse by old men, using the cash transfer money as bait, are just among many in the county, according to local activists.
Busia is among the counties with the highest prevalence of sexual violence. The 2022 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey found that overall 14.7 per cent of women and girls aged 15-49 had experienced the violence in their lifetime.
Mary Makokha, founder of Rural Education and Economic Enhancement Programme says there are many unreported cases of old men using the cash transfer money to lure girls into defilement.
She, however, encourages them to speak out as that is the only way the perpetrators can be prosecuted for their crimes.
There is, however, hope for the violated children to get justice.
Sexual offences
Courts across the country have convicted defilers, a proof that the law against sexual offences is offering children a means to justice.
Last February, a Mombasa Magistrate court jailed a 65-year-old man for 45 years for kidnapping and sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl.
Five months earlier, Lamu Law Court had sentenced a 46-year-old man to 10 years in prison for intentionally and unlawfully touching a 13-year-old girl’s private part inappropriately.
In Murang’a County, a grandfather, aged 60, will also be spending 30 years in jail for defiling his seven-year-old granddaughter. The Kigumo Law Court found him guilty of the crime last September.
Additionally, the Judiciary has established special courts to handle sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) cases.
Since March 2022, the Judiciary has established five courts including two in Nairobi-Kibera and Makadara- and others in Mombasa, Siaya and Kisumu counties, with a plan of having them countrywide.
It has also established special SGBV registries in Meru, Nakuru, Kiambu, Machakos, Kisii, Kitale and Machakos.
It's now easier to trace sex offenders owing to the recent launch of an electronic record.
The Convicted Sexual Offenders Electronic Register, rolled out in June this year, is one way of protecting Kenyans from the abusers as the public can access information about them through the platform.
We gave the girl the identity of Lofa to protect her from any harm.
