Two people arrested in Narok for marrying off a ten-year-old girl

NAROK: A ten year old girl from Olkinyei area in Narok South Sub County has been rescued by the local provincial administration from early marriage.

The standard two pupil at Olarowan primary school had been married off to a 29 year old man after he paid dowry that included two cows, several goats, sheep, blankets and Maasai shukas to the girl's father in an elaborate ceremony at Oldonyo Rasha village last Friday evening.

The would be husband and the father were Saturday arrested by administration police officers based in Ololulung'a after being tipped by local human rights activists and educationists.

The Narok South acting Deputy County Commissioner Justus Musau who condemned the illicit marriage said the duo will be arraigned in a local court today to answer various charges including abduction and forcefully marrying off a minor contrary to the revised Children's Act.

"The Government will not relent in the fight against outdated and retrogressive cultural practices that go against the rights of children to access education. Early marriages and Female Genital Mutilation are demeaning and against the country's laws," said Musau.

He said the girl who had been locked in a separate house awaiting the consummation of the marriage would have been shaved off her hair to start the journey to being a wife and a mother and thanked locals who worked in tandem with his office to rescue her.

The area chief Meitai Lemein who led police to the village said they would be husband would have consummated the marriage had the girl been shaved, adding that the initial marriage ceremony was held at night to avoid scrutiny.

"The ceremony to shave her off her hair was delayed. It could have heralded the consummation of marriage that could have resulted in early pregnancy," said Lemein who added that most young girls could have been married off in the Olkinyei and adjacent areas during the just concluded December school holiday.

Musau said the girl would be moved to Talek boarding primary school in Mara division to continue learning after the ongoing teachers strike peter out, adding that as a short term measure, during all school holidays, she will spend them with the chief's family.

"We have decided to do that to ensure that she continues with her education. If she is allowed to go back to her home, she might be moved to another place and be forcefully married off," he said and asked courts not to be lenient with those who violate children's rights.