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{
    "id": 1008641,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1008641/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 197,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Prof.) Ongeri",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 124,
        "legal_name": "Samson Kegeo Ongeri",
        "slug": "samson-ongeri"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to weigh in on this matter. It is sad. In fact, on average, 18 per cent of the adolescent children are pregnant or get pregnant at that tender age. Therefore, it is not only a problem to parents, but also a health risk in the sense that delivery by these children comes with a lot of complications. Also, to nurture young babies through these young mothers becomes a task in itself. It is quite a paradox that we are educating young girls and boys for them to elude poverty. Unfortunately, when they get pregnant, they have no source of income other than being dependent on others to be able to take care of them. It is a pity because some of them come from very vulnerable homes and poor socio-economic strata. This, therefore, creates a problem in our society. With this pandemic, it clearly shows you what the social fabric is all about. The social fabric in Kenya has become very rotten. They are not taking care of the sexuality or teaching children to avoid sexuality at this early age. When sexuality and pregnancy go hand in hand, you create a lot of difficulties and problems for the young ones to survive in the environment, as it is today. Leave alone the onset of COVID-19, with the socioeconomic difficulties having set in, it becomes very difficult to nurture these children. These are children who are sometimes abandoned in the streets or thrown in funny environments. Therefore, parents have a huge responsibility to ensure that these children are put together. Just as the teachers were able to take care of us, as parents, we are beginning to see the gaps because more than 75 per cent of the time of a child is spent in school. However, with the onset of COVID-19 pandemic children are at home. The fact that schools will reopen in 2021 will cause more problems. Statistics will change, and from 18 per cent, it could rise to 30 per cent or 40 per cent, and will be worrisome. I thank Sen. Kwamboka for being alive to this situation and bringing this Statement to us. Whatever Committee will look at it, let them first of all look at the problems of teenagers, issues of pregnancy, complications of pregnancy and the health concerns. Thank you."
}