By Amoto Ndiewo
Some activists have blamed the introduction of e-learning in schools for heightening online sexual exploitation of children in Kwale County.
Kwale Child Rights Network Paralegal officer Harun Omariba said some unsuspecting girls fall prey to sexual predators they meet online.
Omariba blamed illiteracy and poor parental care and supervision of their children’s online education programmes for the exposure to internet dating and group chatting sites that has seen many girls end up being exploited by sex predators.
“Human rights organisation’s receive at least five cases of children missing daily because instead of e-learning the children took the opportunity to chat and watch porn,’’ he lamented.
He said most of the girls fall between the age bracket of 13 and 17 years and are unable to identify the internet pals simply because the predators lure them, using fake WhatsApp and Facebook accounts.
“You also can’t rule out poverty and unemployment entrapping the girls, some of whom have been lured to commercial sex during the nine month Covid-19 break after their parents lost jobs,” he added.
Most parents who were working in the hotel industry lost jobs when the hotels and the idle girls who were also at home sought alternative means to survive.
He asked different stakeholders to join hands to tame the vice that is destroying the future of the Kwale girl child.
Last month Human Development Agenda (HUDA) raised alarm over increased number of cases of teen pregnancies
“About 15 cases of child pregnancies are reported to us every month,’’ said HUDA officer Kashi Jermaine
