The current statistics showing at least 4,000 pregnancies among school-going girls in Machakos county, is if anything, disturbing.
Statistics that have been pegged to the ongoing partial lock down in the country that forced learning institutions to shut down from as early as mid-March when the first case of Coronavirus was reported in Kenya.
An abrupt disruption in the education sector that saw nearly 17 million learners nationwide, get sent packing to their homes.
A situation that the country has been experiencing for at least 3 months now and which has left learners with nothing much to do at home.
Sadly though, in these 3 months, at least 4,000 reported pregnancies were borne in Machakos, majority out of wedlock. This has not only painted a bad picture for the county under Dr Alfred Mutua´s governance but which has also left majority of parents with questions.
Ezekiel Mutua
Giving his two cents on the same, Kenya Film and Classification Board (KFCB) CEO, Dr Ezekiel Mutua has pined the blame on the vulgar vernacular content that has been aired on TV and radio and that has corrupted the minds of these young ones.
According to him, a survey conducted by the Board in 2017 showed Machakos as a leading county when it comes to production of explicit vernacular music content and to him, the current reports are nothing surprising.
Unfortunately, even after they raised the alarm 3 years back, it looks like no one listened and the fruits have now shown themselves.
¨Kamba vernacular music normalized teenage sex and objectification of women,¨ he stated. Adding that majority of these songs featured young girls, with bands taking up sexualized stage names.
He expressed just how much remorse he had in acknowledging the fact that a higher percentage of Kamba music content ´encourages s*x with young girls and even rape´.
Strongly affirming that it is time all this came to an end. A lot of yapping has been done but it is now time action was taken because just how do you deal with 4,000 pregnancies?
A question that remains unanswered and a statistic that has left many parents and netizens in shock.