By Enock Okong’o
Parents have been asked to take care of their children as they will break for half term this week.
While addressing a public on baraza on Tuesday, the assistant chief of Riooga Sub location, Lamech Nyaberi, said that children are quick to copy behaviors from their colleagues. He also cautioned parents to be on guard and check on the type of friends their children chose to walk with.
He asked parents to cooperate with the church to design programmes that will provide life skills and spiritual nourishment to the learners when they are out of school.
He however cautioned the children to distance themselves from adult relatives with wayward characters as they might lure them with simple things like sweets in order to defile them.
“I ask you to identify such odd characters in our villages and report them to my office to be arrested and charged in the court of law,” he ordered.
The Assistant Chief lauded the community policing groups for arresting a suspect after defiling a child of eight years within his area of administration.
According to the Assistant Chief, the suspect who was identified as Okero Arasa was caught red handed defiling the minor.
They arrested and handed him to Nyamira Police who took him to court after recording statements. Arasa was found guilty by the Nyamira law courts and was sentenced to a 40 year jail term over child defilement.
Elsewhere, Nyamira County Pentacostal Assemblies Churches Overseer Rev. Elkanah Omwenga, asked the Ministry of Education to employ enough guidance and counseling experts to help learners in schools as they strive in their education while encountering physical developments changes.
He said that most schools depend on pastors who are spiritual mentors but not experts of counseling.
“Let the ministry draw clear boundaries between spiritual growth and guidance and counseling in our children to enable them place required personnel at the right places in our institutions of learning,” he said.
The Reverent was speaking at Nyamira town during the Christian Education stakeholders meeting.
He took the chance to condemn the same gender sex marriage debate that has been ongoing in the country and asked the Ministry of Education to take quick strategies in sensitizing learners and teachers against it before it permeated into schools.
