The Senate in Kenya has launched an investigation into a deep-rooted child trafficking ring in Kenya after it emerged that at least 6,000 newborns mysteriously disappeared from Kenyan public hospitals between July 2022 and May 2023, less than a year.
The Senate Health Committee has been tasked with investigating the extent of the crime, the reasons behind it, and the involvement of staff in public health facilities. This comes a few days after an employee of Mana Lucy was convicted for stealing and selling newborns.
“The committee should provide a detailed report on investigations into allegations of child trafficking facilitated by staff in government health facilities,” said nominated Senator Esther Okenyuri, who used the Mama Lucy case where the convicted worker sold more than 20 children.
Senate Speaker Amason Kingi approved the request and directed the Health Committee, chaired by Uasin Gishu Senator Jackson Mandago, to begin investigations immediately. The investigations might not yield anything as the House reports are never taken seriously in prosecuting culprits.
How do hospital staff steal newborns?
Whenever a mother gives birth, especially through cesarean section, before she recovers, her live kid is quickly taken away and replaced with a dead one from the morgue. There are many corpses of miscarriages and unclaimed dead infants in major hospitals in Kenya.
When the mother recovers, she is informed that her baby was born dead and there being no evidence that she was born alive, the mother goes home in tears, with the dead baby. By that time, her living infant would have already exchanged hands and cash paid in full.
In Kenya, a newborn male baby can fetch between 50,000 and 75,000 shillings if sold to locals and an upward of 500,000 shillings if sold to foreigners. A girl fetches between 30,000 and 50,000 shillings locally.
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