Money Markets
US child labour claims threaten Kenya’s exports
Children march in Kawangware, Nairobi, during celebrations marking the Day of the African Child. Photo/MICHAEL MUTE
Posted Thursday, October 22 2009 at 00:00
“There is nothing to hide, child labour is rampant in the sugar cane plantations in Nyanza, you can see it as you walk around. The use of children in Miwani plantations is too high. I’ve just passed through the farms now, it’s a holiday today (yesterday) but I’ve seen people working in the farms and they are all children” says Mr Samuel Anyango, the secretary general of East Africa Sugarcane growers Forum.
He says poverty makes children work in the farms for profit.
“The government must find a way of keeping children in schools. The free education is not as free, parents are asked to pay certain levies and they don’t have the money for it.”
Education officials in Migori and Kuria districts say about 38 per cent of school-going children from Kuria and 18 per cent in Migori have dropped out of school to work in tobacco farms and gold mines.
BAT, Kenya, which buys tobacco from parts of Nyanza province faces a tough challenge since the US report indicates child labour is involved in the production of tobacco.
RSS