We’ve all at one point or another been bugged by street children to give them money while for others, it’s been worse as you’ve probably been mugged or smeared with faeces. Truth is, it’s scary to walk around in the city center especially at night because of the nightmare that is street children who constantly terrorize Nairobi residents.
Good news is that the menace could soon end according to Governance and Education Rights Advocacy Specialist Janet Ouko who said that a rescue centre for more than 1,000 street children is under construction in Ruai.
Janet Ouko yesterday said the Ksh. 126.9 million Ruai Rehabilitation Centre will finally be completed in April 2019.
The centre, initiated in 2015 by the county, was then considered congested and uninviting, thus, causing insecurity in the city centre. It stalled a year later after the contractor, Tacina General Contractors Limited, abandoned the project claiming that the city had not paid.
According to 2016-17 report by Auditor General Edward Ouko, work valued at Ksh. 21.77 million had been completed by the time the project stalled. It was later revived by the new administration and according to Ouko, the center which is being constructed on 40 acres is now almost complete.
“The work is almost complete. It’s a modern complex that will help us rehabilitate street children. Once the centre is complete, the street children would all be rounded up and taken there,” he said.
The new rehabilitation center will provide early childhood education, primary and secondary education as well as sports while children above 16 years of age will be trained in vocational skills.
The centre will also have a clinic, ablution block, dining area and hostels.
Currently, the county runs four active rehab centres. They are Makadara centre with 249 boys; Kayole centre with 89 girls; Shauri Moyo centre with 69 children and Joseph Kang’ethe Social Hall, now a rehab center with 103 children.
In 2016, governor Evans Kidero blamed the Ministry of Devolution for reneging on a promise to channel Ksh. 300 million annually to City Hall to aid the rehabilitation.
The street children in Nairobi have occupied many streets, roundabouts, backstreets and footbridges in the city centre and have become a security threat snatching valuables from innocent Kenyans.
Globe Cinema roundabout, Moi Avenue, Tom Mboya Avenue, Mama Ngina and Mfangano streets are among the areas taken over by street children.
Do you think it is possible for the county government to completely remove street children and families from the streets and help them make a living for themselves in these rehabilitation centers?