Family willingly gives its 20 acres of land to government

By Dickson Wekesa

A family in Bamba Village, Ganze Constituency in Kilifi County has willingly given 20 acres of its land to the government for the construction of a girls’ secondary school.

The family says it wants to help curb teenage pregnancies and reduce dropout rates among female secondary school students in the area.

Led by Kaingu Koi, the family said a secondary school nearest to Bamba Village is “located several kilometers away”.

“This (distance) discourages students from covering tens of kilometers daily in pursuit of education. Girls meet men along the way, who end up luring them into early sexual behaviour,” said Koi.

Residents claim that Ganze has two girls’ schools in the entire constituency.

Construction work on the 20 acres of land donated to the government began on Monday, March 15, with CDF monies to be used in the project.

A groundbreaking ceremony for four classrooms was conducted on Monday, and presided over by area MP Teddy Mwambire.

Mwambire thanked Koi’s family for the land, saying it was thoughtful of the family because “girls will now no longer cover tens of kilometers daily to get education”.

“This is the third girls’ secondary school in the constituency,” said the MP, who urged the National Government to disburse CDF monies to the constituencies.

“I am yet to receive my allocation of Ksh65 million, but I am hopeful that when it (CDF money) comes, we’ll be able to fast-track the building of this school.”

Christine Mwenda, a resident, said the new girls’ school will “help keep our daughters away from sexual predators”.

Chapungu assistant chief, Nixon Mwathethe, welcomed the development project, saying “it was about time we added another girls’ school in our community”.