This archive report was first published on 12 September 2019.
On Wednesday night, a group of destitute street children in Nakuru County were offered a chance at a better life, only to be deceived and dumped in a forest in Baringo County.
According to eyewitnesses, the children, aged between 12 and 26 years, were told by Nakuru County enforcement officers that they would be taken to school and college, but instead, they were rounded up and taken to Chemusus Forest in Eldama Ravine, 75 kilometres away.
One of the victims, Jackson Kuka, 26, recounted the ordeal, saying the officers approached him at around 9pm and told him of a plan to take street children to school and college. However, they were instead handcuffed and bundled into cars and taken to the forest.
“Those who refused to board the lorries were forced in. They told us the younger ones would be taken to primary school and the rest to colleges, only for us to end up in a forest in another county,” said Kuka.
The incident has sparked outrage, with a Children’s Officer in the County, Kuria Muthandi, calling the actions of the officials ‘not right’. Muthandi suggested that each county should have a rescue center for children, rather than transferring the problem from one county to another.
Published on September 12, 2019, at 10:59:49 AM.
