Kilifi County: Authorities in Kilifi County on Monday arrested a couple and rescued thirty children after raiding an illegal and unregistered children rescue centre allegedly operated by the pair in Baguo Village, Kakuyuni Ward.
According to Kenya News Agency, a multi-agency team, led by Malindi Assistant County Commissioner Irene Munyoki and Malindi Sub-County Children’s Officer Sebastian Muteti, stormed the unregistered Ultimate Security Centre and shut it down. The officers escorted the proprietors of the alleged fake rescue centre to Malindi Police Station and transported the 18 boys and 12 girls to the Malindi Children’s Office using a bus from Kakuyuni Secondary School.
The children were later taken to a registered children’s home in Sabaki Ward for temporary shelter as authorities work to reunite them with their families. Speaking to journalists at the Malindi Children’s Home, Ms Munyoki said officials had received a tip-off from members of the public who reported seeing numerous children entering and leaving a particular home.
Upon raiding the premises, officers found the children living in a private house converted into makeshift boarding facilities without proper sanitary provisions. Despite being in different grades, they were all learning in a single classroom. Ms Munyoki noted that the rescued children hailed from various parts of the country, including Siaya, Kisii, Magarini Sub-County in Kilifi County, and Ukambani, among others.
Muteti added that all the 30 children were under eighteen years of age and that the rescue centre was not known to the government as it had not gone through the registration process. ‘It is an illegal structure. They call themselves a rescue centre but they have no registration papers. We are grateful to members of the public who alerted us. We shall take the children to various institutions and the courts for committals so we can reunite them with their families,’ he said.