This archive report was first published on 10 July 2020.
On July 10, 2020, police officers in Oloitokitok, Kajiado County, launched a daring rescue mission to save a 14-year-old girl from being married off to an 82-year-old man.
The girl, whose name has been withheld, had dropped out of school in Standard Seven and was set to spend her life with a man more than six decades her senior.
According to Brian Ogwari, the area assistant county commissioner, the police received intelligence about the impending marriage and quickly sprang into action.
‘We received intelligence from Loitoktok that a girl was about to get married to an 82-year-old man and immediately launched a rescue mission,’ Ogwari said.
The police found a group of elders gathered to conduct the marriage ceremony, but they were not allowed to proceed.
The girl is now safe and sound at a rescue centre, thanks to the swift action of the police.
Her father, however, was arrested for receiving a Sh50,000 bride price from the elderly suitor.
Early marriages have been on the rise since schools closed down due to the coronavirus, according to Dorcas Parit, the director of Hope Beyond, a centre that caters for girls rescued from early marriages.
