By Amoto Ndiewo
Despite having walked the rough road of early pregnancy and teenage marriage, Hon Aisha Jumwa stands tall as a role model to the girl child in the country and beyond.
Mbalambala sub county Director of Education in Garissa, Abdirashid Muktar says that she is not only a role model for the ordinary coastal girl who to date undergoes Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), perennial child pregnancies and teen marriages but is also an icon to the girl child in many vulnerable parts of Africa.
He adds that Aisha’s story of resilience should inspire disadvantaged girls to soldier on towards greater heights.
His sentiments come after former Malindi MP, Aisha Jumwa narrated her tumultuous journey to prominence during her vetting by the National Assembly vetting committee for the position of Cabinet Secretary for Public Service, Gender and Affirmative Action.
“Despite recent improvement, given that for eons Kilifi has been in the limelight for high number of teen pregnancies and early marriages, the county now rightly brags for being Hon. Aisha’s home,” Muktar noted.
He sadly adds although the situation has slightly improved, in 2019 the country’s National Census indicated that out of a total 296,841 female population, 88,122 females in Kilifi drop out of school before completion. It is also not lost on Kenyans that in the same year, the county recorded a whopping 17,000 cases of teen pregnancies.
“This simply means the girl child in Kilifi is in a precarious position due to various internal and external reasons,” said Muktar.
Muktar says that despite the ups and downs, Aisha rode through the rough tide rising through the ranks to be nominated as Cabinet Secretary.
“I dropped out of school due to lack of school fees and got married early. I decided to join active politics to be able to make transformation for the girl child and society at large,” Aisha said.
Aisha noted that in order to curb early marriages and pregnancies, the men involved in such misadventures ought to be engaged. This engagement she clarified, ought to be from the homes, the community and work places.
“We have to try to educate, create awareness to the community to fruitfully discuss the challenges amongst the parties involved for better behavioral change. Besides protecting and creating awareness to the community, both sexes should not lose focus on education,” she said.
“I will be in the forefront to ensure that both sexes surpass my humble strides. The boy child seems to have been forgotten at the expense of the girl child,” she said.
She said that was the responsibility of the government and the society to offer affirmative action to either sex who might be backpedaling so that both can swim in one pool towards success.
