According to UNICEF, Kenya has the 20th highest absolute number of child brides in the world and if recent cases from Homabay county are anything to go by, then the county could be staring at a ticking humanitarian bomb.
In 2017 in Kenya, 23% of girls are married off before the 18 yo. 4% are married before they turn 15.
In Bondo and Homabay, the practice of partying at discos after funerals has also been cited as a driver of teenage pregnancy which sees girls drop out of school and seek early marriage.
In a rather bizarre story, a 26-year-old man was on Wednesday arrested for marrying a Class Six pupil in Ndhiwa, Homabay county.
The two were said to have been living as husband and wife in a rental house at Marindi trading centre for more than two months.
The man was also taken to Homa Bay police station.
Homa Bay sub-county Children’s Department officer Joseph Otieno said the suspects would be taken to court.
“I urge residents to protect rights of children. Teenage marriage destroys the future of minors, hence it must be discouraged,” said Mr Otieno.
A 2016 UNICEF study shows that some girls are seen as assets, rather than individuals with rights, and can fetch families up to hundreds of goats, cattle, camels and donkeys when married.
Elsewhere, a 30-year-old was arrested in the same county for marrying a Class Seven girl.
The suspect is said to have lived with the minor as his wife in a rental house at Sero village in the outskirts of Homa Bay town.
According to reports, he locked up the minor, a pupil at a primary school in the neighbouring Rangwe sub-county, for one month.
The two were arrested in the house after area Chief Fredrick Onyango was tipped off by the public.
“I informed police before we raided the house and found the man living with the girl,” said Mr Onyango.
Under the Marriage Act 2014 the minimum legal age of marriage is 18 years with no exceptions.
Plan reports that Kenyan girls who drop out of school for any reason are more likely to end up married. Some parents reportedly withdraw girls from school and marry them off as soon as they menstruate. Marriage is seen to offer the ultimate protection from male sexual attention.
Kenya has committed to eliminate child, early and forced marriage by 2030 in line with target 5.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals.