8 school girls spend night in police cells for loitering in Maralal

Eight secondary school girls were forced to spend a night at Maralal Police station in Samburu County after they were arrested for loitering in the streets at 2am.

The girls were among a group of over 20 other students who were being expected to board buses at midnight back to their schools outside the county.

Samburu Central Sub county Commander Abagaro Guyo confirmed the arrest saying that the eight girls were released on Saturday after they were identified to be students.

“We kept them in a safe place instead of loitering in town after we realised they were students but we didn’t knew their homes,” he said.

Mr Guyo said the girls were found within the town near disco halls.

The commander called on parents to be mindful of the security of their children especially girls who board buses to school at night.

“The town is full of wrongdoers at such hours and it takes only minutes to mess a girl child’s life,” he noted.

County Woman Rep Maison Leshoomo urged parents to be escorting their children to school to avoid such incidences.

“Don’t assume that your child has gone back to school from home without a follow up, please escort your children until after they have been received at school, some children are staying in the town for more than a week as parents think they travelled back to school,” she said.

However, area residents called on the police to treat school going children with lenience adding that transport in Maralal town is challenging at night.

“Those traveling to Nyahururu from here use buses that operate at night and our officers should be aware of this,” said a resident.