Pastor Dorcas
The spouse of the Deputy President Pastor Dorcas Rigathi has announced that children who are petty offenders will not serve terms in prison.
Speaking during the ground breaking ceremony for the Rehabilitation and Wellness Centre in Rumuruti ward, Laikipia County, Pastor Dorcas said such underage petty offenders caught smoking bhang would be taken to a detention centre for rehabilitation.
She added that absorption of a detention centre in Kenya’s penal system will be a collaboration of the judiciary, county and national governments.
“This place, we are going to do something that has not been done before. And this shall be done by the national, county governments and judiciary working together where we want our children who are caught in schools and other places with petty crime and maybe they were caught smoking bhang and all that, and they are in prison; we want to have a detention centre here where they will be moved and they come here and join the other children to go for rehabilitation and be skilled and when they finish they are also productive within the society. These are some of the plans,” said Pastor Dorcas.
Pastor Dorcas has in the past decried the congestion in Kenya’s prisons, which she observed during her visit to Kiambu GK prison months ago.
She noted with concern that the petty offenders would be turned into hard core criminals after being locked up for long periods with the hardcore criminals.
The detention centre incorporated at the Rehabilitation and Wellness Centre in Rumuruti would be an avenue for the transformation of the petty offenders from a life of drug peddling and drug use.
The centre will include a rehabilitation centre, detention centre, prayer centre, cerebral palsy and autism physiotherapy centre, TVET, sports academy, health facility, agribusiness, and boarding facilities.
“There will be 360-degree transformation of our children at this centre so they can become responsible fathers and mothers in the land. Our young men will stop seeking cocaine and other drugs, and instead speak about their families,” said Pastor Dorcas.
In line with the office of the spouse of the Deputy President (OSDP) vision of ‘A Dignified Future for Vulnerable Populations’, even such petty offenders can be transformed and lead a dignified life and future, and not be condemned forever for the crime they commit.
Pastor Dorcas urged the residents to position themselves as the facility would bring physical, social and economic transformation to the remote and dry area of Laikipia county. The residents are pastoralists from different communities that include the Maasai, Turkana, Samburu who live in mud-walled houses.
