It usually begins with a chilling call, “Babe, we need to talk”. This is a clear signal that things are thick. After a period of careless fun with a ‘sponsor’, she misses her periods, then reality sets in. 

Barely out of her teens and in the first or second year of college, she finds herself in an awkward situation: Should she procure an abortion or live with the stigma? Young, jobless and desperate, many university students prefer terminating the pregnancy.

At only 23, *Morine has already had two abortions. A second-year university student in the Rift Valley, she had a strict religious upbringing whose emphasis was good character and morals.

But somewhere along the way, she deviated from the holy scriptures after joining college. Like many other ‘freshers’, she had to adjust to the freedom of adult life in the university.

When she first realised she would be a mother, she had to either tell her parents the truth and face societal shame or secretly terminate the pregnancy and proceed with her studies.

As a young girl with lofty dreams and aspirations, she chose the latter.

“My parents are very strict and I was not ready to have a child, I am still new in school trying to understand myself, so I did not want to risk my future,” says Morine.

A friend who knew what she was going through introduced her to a clinic. A doctor gave her two tablets; one was placed under her tongue, while the other was inserted in her private parts. For this, she paid Shs 4,000.

*Stacy, another university student in Nairobi, shares a similar experience.

She’s an adventurous girl who lives her life to the fullest but one evening, the fun came to a screeching halt when she realised she was pregnant.

“When I missed my periods I knew something was not right. I texted the man I was dating and told him that we needed to talk. Interestingly, he sent me Shs 6,000, as if he knew what I was going to say. The money was another way of him telling me to get rid of it,” says Stacy. 

“One of my friends hooked me up with a certain doctor who sorts out students. In some cases, medical students sell abortion drugs for as low as Shs2,000, but I just opted to see a doctor and paid Shs 5,000. If you’ve not had an abortion while in the university then you do deserve a trophy because it’s not easy.

“I was dating older men while in university. This is tricky because they don’t like using condoms; they are financing your lifestyle so it’s upon you to take care of yourself. I have conceived twice but immediately they know you’ve done it they move away; they don’t want to interact with you,” she adds.

Other female students we spoke to attributed the prevalence in abortions to societal pressures to live a certain lifestyle, which forces a majority of them to look for “financially stable” men to finance their lifestyles.

The catch, though, is that these men are unwilling to use protection, and insist on sex on demand, leaving the female students with few options.

Abortion continues to remain a difficult topic in Kenya.

According to Article 26 (IV) of the Constitution, abortion is not permitted unless, in the opinion of a trained health professional, there is a need for emergency treatment or the life or health of the mother is in danger, or if permitted by any other written law.

Healthcare services do not provide abortion services in colleges. Students have to go off-campus to procure unsafe abortions. Sometimes they are forced to travel long distances to find backdoor abortion clinics. 

According to the findings of a thesis by Dr Lugaliki A. Doreen, which was submitted to the University of Nairobi, about 13 per cent of pregnancy-related deaths have been attributed to complications of unsafe abortion.

Unsafe abortion contributes significantly to maternal mortality in resource-poor countries. Between seven and 10 patients who have procured abortions are treated daily at the Kenyatta National Hospital.

“I receive calls from students asking me if I could help prescribe drugs. They come to us bleeding and most of them lie that they did not know that they were pregnant. They mostly come from backstreet clinics after things go wrong,” says Dr Gideon Kiprono from Olenguruone Sub-County Hospital.

“I don’t participate in such practices. They usually go to chemists, where they are given drugs over-the-counter,” he adds.

Dr Kiprono says unsafe abortions come with consequences, including infertility as some medics use crude tools in the process.

A report by the African Population and Health Research Center and the Ministry of Health revealed that nearly 120,000 women received care for complications resulting from unsafe abortions in health facilities in 2012.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.   By Mercy Simiyu, Daily Nation

An aspirant for the Bungoma governor’s seat has demanded back Sh500,000 he paid as nomination fees to the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), after learning that the party prefers Ford Kenya’s Ken Lusaka for the position. Photo Courtesy NMG 

Zachariah Baraza wanted to unseat Governor Wycliffe Wangamati in the August General Election on a UDA ticket but was shocked to learn that UDA had other plans and he didn’t feature in them.

UDA had opted to back Mr Lusaka under a Kenya Kwanza arrangement.

It appears his fate was sealed at a meeting on Monday with UDA top officials, who asked him to shelve his ambitions to pave the way for Mr Lusaka.

Consequently, Mr Baraza has given UDA seven days to refund the cash, saying he wants to use it to develop dilapidated schools across Bungoma’s nine constituencies.

The disgruntled politician announced he would run for governor as an independent candidate.

The politician’s protests came as five MPs allied to UDA in Bungoma vowed to support Mr Lusaka.

Politicians under Kenya Kwanza, led by Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa, said they had also agreed in Kakamega to have former senator Boni Khalwale, who was seeking a UDA ticket to run for governor, to step down for ANC’s Cleophas Malala.

But Mr Baraza reminded Deputy President William Ruto about his promise that UDA, which he heads, would not dish out direct tickets and would allow ‘hustlers’ to choose their candidates.

Predominantly pro-Ruto

“But right now leadership is being arranged from Ruto's Karen home,” he protested.

The politician said areas presumed to be predominantly pro-Ruto had attracted tens of candidates for various seats but no one was pushing them to the negotiating table. He wondered why the DP wanted to impose a governor on Bungoma voters. 

He said Dr Ruto had promised that no preferred leaders would be imposed on voters “in boardrooms and yet that is exactly what he is doing by imposing Mr Lusaka to Bungoma residents".

“If the DP knew that he was going to back Mr Lusaka and ask me to shelve my bid, he should not have asked me to pay the Shs 500,000 for nomination fees," he lamented.

He accused the DP of preaching water and drinking wine as demonstrated through his political actions.

Mr Baraza said UDA was busy dismissing Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya Alliance presidential candidate Raila Odinga as a State project but the party was imposing many projects in Bungoma including Mr Lusaka.

He said the Shs 500,000 would find better use in purchasing cement for schools.

The aspirant delivered 50 bags of cement to Khelela Primary School in Tongaren constituency on Tuesday, and a further Shs10,000 to improve the school’s toilets.

He decried the poor state of schools in Tongaren, saying he had seen about 18 of them that need urgent help.

“Education being a key factor in the development of any society, I will remain committed to improving the learning conditions in this county (by upgrading) infrastructure," he said.

On health, Mr Baraza assured Tongaren constituents that he would upgrade their health centre into a well-equipped facility with equipment like CT scan and X-ray machines and surgical theatres.

Poor roads

He also promised that needy and vulnerable residents would get NHIF cards to help them access treatment if he is elected governor in August. 

He also promised to tarmac the Sikhendu-Naitiri-Nzoia road so that farmers can take their farm produce to markets more easily. He said the area had been neglected by the Wangamati administration and had poor roads.

"Kanduyi constituency only has a road being constructed to the tune of Shs 1.5 billion, a stadium at Shs 3 billion, a hospital maternity wing at Sh300 million while other regions have nothing to be proud of," he said.

He urged the public to ignore Ford Kenya party leader Moses Wetang’ula, who is pushing for Mr Lusaka to be elected governor, saying unlike the Senate Speaker, he is not anyone’s project.

"In 2013, Lusaka was Mr Wetang’ula’s project that bought wheelbarrows at an exaggerated Shs 109,000 each,” he said.

“They procured musician Kanda Bongoman at Sh20 million just to entertain themselves while wananchi were sleeping hungry. They also used Shs 100 million to construct a wall around a hospital instead of buying the much-needed drugs."

In 2017, he said, little-known Mr Wangamati was again Mr Wetang’ula’s project and bought Shs 100 jerricans at Shs 10,000 each and hired goons to physically attack people in the county. By Brian Ojamaa, Daily Nation