Pastor Dorcas Rigathi encouraged the multi-agency approach in the fight against alcohol, drugs, and substance abuse in the country.
Speaking at a church in Meru on Sunday where she accompanied Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, Pastor Dorcas commended the efforts of the President, Deputy President, Members of the National Assembly and County Assemblies in tackling the scourge of addictions in the country.
“The President, Deputy President, and Members of the National and County Assemblies are doing a difficult job and pushing for laws to reduce the rampant deaths of the boy child. Alcohol and drugs have caused us extreme losses. We must unite as women and parents and go get our children, and work towards flushing out the psychoactive substances from their body systems, love them, so they can come back home, and become part of the citizens building our nation,” she said.
She commended the clergy, from across faiths, Muslim, Hindu, and Christian faiths for opening up their facilities to restore the boys and men lost in the streets and wasting their lives in the gutter and streets following intoxication by different substances.
She particularly appreciated the work of Sister Veronica who opened the Holy Innocence BPSS Rehabilitation Centre in Timau where the office of the Spouse of the Deputy President (OSDP) partnered in the rehabilitation of the first cohort of men from addictions.
Present was Meru Governor Kawira Mwangaza, Laikipia Governor Joshua Irungu, Buuri MP Mugambi Rindikiri, Meru Woman Representative Elizabeth Kailemia, MPs Moses Kirima (Imenti Central) Abdul Rahim Dawood (Imenti North), Mpuru Aburi (Tigania East), John Paul Mwirigi (Igembe South), Julius Taitumu (Igembe North), Jayne Kihara (Naivasha), and Daniel Karitho (Igembe Central) among other leaders.
“All these boys you find drunk and sleeping in the gutter, and outside in the cold are the fathers of tomorrow. Their bodies are intoxicated with alcohol, and others have died,” said Pastor Dorcas.
She also decried the high number of widows in the country following her numerous meetings with widows in different parts of the country, signifying the interconnectedness of the boy child program, and the widows and orphans program.
“When I went to Laikipia for a widows program, we expected 2,000 but 6,000 turned up. This means more than 6,000 men have died. It is also worrying that widows in Kenya are in the ages of 25, 30 and 40. Even in the Bible, a widow is expected to be 60 years and above,” she added.
Kenya has eight million widows in her population.
Pastor Dorcas urged the people to embrace those who express a desire to go for rehabilitation, and also support them post-rehabilitation.
The Deputy President said that they would also not relent in the war against illicit brews and commended the national administration officers for their role in the many wins against the menace.
