Spare our students the condoms burden

Nairobi residents mark the International Condom Day on February 13, 2014. FILE PHOTO |

What you need to know:

  • Prof Kaimenyi was commenting on the Reproductive Health Care Bill sponsored by Senator Judith Sijeny
  • Thankfully, Prof Kaimenyi is not a lone fighter. Teachers’ unions Knut and Kuppet have closed ranks to oppose the Bill

A recent story in this paper was music to my ears. It reported Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi stating on a Nation FM ‘State of the Nation’ radio programme that the government will not support condoms and birth control pills for students.

As an alumna of the University of Nairobi, I closely follow Prof Kaimenyi, not so much as Cabinet Secretary, but as an affiliate of an institution that we, ex-students, pride in as a seat of wisdom.

During the programme, Prof Kaimenyi dared to utter what is becoming a taboo word in public discourse — morality. He said that distributing contraceptives to students is not the way to go, as it will erode their morals. “We cannot allow condoms everywhere,” he said.

Having affirmed my total support for Prof Kaimenyi, it’s worth revisiting the genesis of the on-and-off “contraceptives in schools” debate that has been on-going for some three decades now.

The agenda is driven by local some NGOs with unlimited funding from an international population control machinery for which the moral welfare of our children counts for nothing.

The minister was commenting on the Reproductive Health Care Bill sponsored by Senator Judith Sijeny.

JUSTICE FOR LIZ

I have my grouse against the good senator. At the height of the Nation Media Group’s campaign Justice for Liz that was ably spearheaded by then Parliamentary Editor Njeri Rugene after a schoolgirl was gang-raped and dumped in a disused pit latrine, not a single woman legislator — Sijeny included — uttered a word in support of the wheelchair-bound child.

It was only after their deafening silence on the matter became so loud that a few crawled out of the woodwork with token contributions for the girl’s medical bill.

Senator Sijeny’s Bill betrays paucity of leadership in the National Assembly, where women, instead of aligning with issues that would strengthen the nation’s frayed moral fibre, further unravel it.

Within a well-established obstetrics and gynaecology set-up such as Kenya’s, reproductive health becomes a euphemism for unbridled sex meant to drive contraceptive sales for their manufacturers.

Over the years, the reproductive health movement has gained such ground that serious parents today think twice before allowing their children to become members of certain groups originally associated with youth formation, but whose camps have been reduced to fornication dens where condoms are dished out like sweets.

Thankfully, Prof Kaimenyi is not a lone fighter. Teachers’ unions Knut and Kuppet have closed ranks to oppose the Bill. The usually squabbling unions are asking the government to instead expand the curriculum to include sex education.

While such education should be parents’ preserve, a situation where they hardly interact with their children means that they cannot be solely relied upon to instil in their offspring the value of delaying sex for their physical and moral health.

Students’ core duty is learning. They need help to delay sex until they are able to take responsibility for its consequences instead of being burdened with condoms.

Ms Kweyu is Revise Editor, Daily Nation. ([email protected])