Meru County Woman Representative Elizabeth Karambu Kailemia has called on parents to be responsible and keenly monitor the whereabouts of their children during the holiday break in a bid to enhance their safety.
The lawmaker regretted that many Kenyans parents are in a hurry to mint money to meet their financial obligation without caring about the whereabouts of their siblings during the school holidays.
Speaking in Meru town when she presented a cheque worth Sh 100,000 to the Meru Press Club. the lawmaker regretted that many innocent learners end up falling prey to men leading to teenage pregnancy, drug and alcohol abuse among other vices.
‘As the mother of the County, am very worried about how we bring up our children. Many parents are in a lot of hurry to make money and don’t care where their children will spend their holidays. Ironically, majority of the parents are happy only during the opening days when they hand back the parental responsibility to the teachers, clergy or caregivers,” said Kailemia.
MP Kailemia called on all education stakeholders to consult regularly in a bid to coexist peacefully.
‘We should work harmoniously with all education stakeholders including teachers, parents,clergy and residents in order to coexist and succeed. These are not their real parents though they take care of our children. Its the responsibility of the parents to take care of their children from when they wake up in the morning to when they go to sleep regardless of whether they are girls or boys,” said the lawmaker.
She said traditionally, children belonged to the entire community where mostly the aunties and uncles give priority to their safety by regularly monitoring their whereabouts.
‘Ensure you know their whereabouts including when they left and returned home. Parents should give priority to the welfare of their children failure to which they will end up pregnant, drug or alcohol addicts. This is despite paying for them the hard earned school fees.
It is unfortunate that many innocent children fall prey to men ending up by dropping out of school due to teenage pregnancy,’ noted MP Kailemia.
Meanwhile MP Kailemia has urged the youth to embrace the saving culture by enrolling in registered groups in a bid to benefit from the government funding.
MP Kailemia said the government and financial institutions gives priority only to organized groups like youth and women insisting the youth must form or join already established groups.
Speaking in Meru town when she presented a cheque worth Sh 100,000 to the Meru Press Club to enable them to start saving and investing, the lawmaker challenged the youth to start saving with as little as Sh100 before planning to bank large amount of money.
“I have realized that majority of Kenyans youth don’t save for the future. If they fail to save in their youth, they will end up soliciting for bursary funds in order to pay school fees for their own children. Embrace the saving culture and start with as little as Sh 100 before planning on large amounts. It might seem small but will come in handy during emergencies like health and school fees,” said MP Kailemia.
She regretted that many Kenyans have not yet embraced the saving culture noting that saving at a young age is the best way of transforming an individual to a responsible and financially stable parent in future.
”I honestly want the youth to be proud and responsible parents in future since they have many days to spend before and after starting their own families. The children will require basic needs, uniform and fees before being registered at any learning institution in Kenya or abroad,” said the lawmaker.
She challenged the youth to be role models to other Kenyans by forming or registering into organized groups adding that table banking is currently the best way to save and invest funds.
