Children home closed indefinitely over defilement, deplorable conditions

A children’s orphanage in South Mugirango Constituency, Kisii County, has been closed indefinitely following allegations of child abuse and deplorable living conditions.

The swift action by a multi-agency team led by the Permanent Secretary of the State Department for Children Welfare Services, Carren Agengo, follows the defilement of a seven-year-old girl allegedly by the facility’s proprietor.

Members of the security team, the Children’s Department, the National Government Administration, among other agencies, stormed St. Peter’s Rigena Orthodox Orphanage Home in Boikang’a Ward and rescued 16 children who were residing at the facility.

PS Agengo expressed concerns over fast release from police custody of the institution proprietor Johnson Otara who was arrested over alleged defilement of one of the children recently.

Describing the state of the home as “sorry”,  Agengo said she was concerned about child safety in any institution and when a suspect is quickly released by the courts on bond, there was cause for worry.

“A matter was taken to court and within a very short time the suspect has been released to come back where those children are,” Ms Agengo lamented.

The PS revealed that the orphanage, which has been in existence for around five years, had not been registered with the government as a Charitable Children’s Institution (CCI).

She ordered its immediate closure and directed that all the children who were residing there be relocated to other safer orphanages within the county.

“ You cannot operate an illegal orphanage and call it a Charitable Children Institution yet you are risking the safety of our children,” Agengo declared.

She also sent a strong warning to individuals running CCIs without the necessary approvals from the government that the long arm of the law would finally catch up with them.

The National Council for Children’s Welfare Chief Executive Officer, Abdinoor Mohamed noted that Kisii had around 23 registered CCIs.

Mohammed added that following the incident, they would embark on a crackdown on orphanages that were operating illegally.

He said the facility may have been moved to the location recently from elsewhere because its existence was not known during an inspection carried sometime last year.

“We will not drop our guard in ensuring that there is compliance,” Mohamed stated.

He called on the public to help identify rogue institutions whose owners are not following the laid-down procedures.

This comes after a girl at the home is said to have sneaked out of the orphanage after she was allegedly defiled by the suspect recently.

The girl is said to have reported the incident to the villagers, who in turn informed the police.