Interior CS Fred Matiang’i Orders Arrest of Chiefs Allowing Teenage Pregnancy Compensation Deals.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i has warned that chiefs who facilitate the exchange of gifts and marriage offers in order to overlook teenage pregnancies in the country risk being fired or arrested.

Despite the presence of traditional court systems in their jurisdictions, the CS claims that the government is prepared to deal with the matter constitutionally, which is illegal under the policy of zero tolerance for sexual liaisons with minors.

Matiang'i was speaking in Mombasa at a regional and county commissioners' forum on HIV/AIDS prevention, teen pregnancy, and gender-based violence.

According to the CS, current research has linked the three social ills and their causes to certain community activities.

“The practice of accepting so many camels or cows or marriage offer as compensation to a family for the pregnancy of their teenage daughter must end. Any chief who condones a retrogressive traditional justice system must be ready for the consequences. We will send them home and then to court,” Matiang’i said.

"The curriculum training for NGAOs at the Kenya School of Government will also be revised to accommodate the new role of the administrators in confronting what has been dubbed ‘The Triple Threat.” The CS added.

The CS further noted that during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, teenage pregnancies increased at a high level.

“Last year, for instance, nearly 400,000 teenage pregnancies were recorded in the country while an estimated 14 percent of the total number of girls aged 10-19 years got into marriages.”