The question on do many people’s minds is, why would you give birth to a child only to dump them? Why not take the child to a home if at all you do not want responsibility? It’s difficult to understand how one can carry life inside them for nine months and later dispose their offspring.
In Kibingo village, Kirinyaga county, a 40-year-old woman yesterday morning gave birth to a baby boy and later dumped him in a 30 feet deep pit latrine.
According to area residents, the woman had informed the doctor who helped her give birth at a local private maternity clinic of her plans to kill the baby after giving birth. The doctor informed the villagers who tried to save the baby but their efforts came a little bit too late.
Police officers are now currently on the hunt for the woman and her husband who reportedly fled immediately after committing the act.
Earlier this month, 22-year old Mercy Chepng’eno, was arrested in Narok County for strangling her baby boy and leaving his body at a dump-site within the Kenya Meteorological Department staff quarters where she was working as a house help.
The one-year-old male child was found at the dump-site with his body wrapped in a paper bag. The mother of the child was charged with infanticide.
In August this year, a 23-year-old woman gave birth to a baby boy and later dumped him by the roadside at Lubao along the Kakamega-Webuye road.
The woman is said to have given birth at the Shikusa Prisons Dispensary and according to one of the nurses, the baby was delivered normally and the mother was discharged five hours after delivery.
The nurse said the woman was not accompanied by any family member at the time she went to the facility in labour. Accoriding Maurice Ogendo, a boda boda rider at Lubao market, the woman was holding a baby in her hands near Lubao Primary School and appeared to be in deep.
Mr Ogendo said after half an hour, the woman disappeared and they thought that she had gone home since they know her until after about five minutes they heard a baby crying and rushed to the scene where the woman was standing only to find that she had abandoned the baby there.
The cases of women abandoning their new born babies is a trend that has been on the rise and should be an issue of concern to the relevant authorities. Apart from the forty year old in Kirinyaga county, most of the women abandoning their children seem to be young unmarried girls who for one reason or another are not willing to carry the ‘shame’ of having children out of wedlock.
While a mother’s love is important, some times people may not want to keep their children for their own personal reasons but that should not mean that the innocent children should be the ones to suffer.
Do you think Kenya has enough homes or facilities where such babies can be taken to, cared for and have a decent life?