More than 1,000 children suspected of under-age drinking were arrested in Nairobi over the weekend, as police claim that an ongoing nationwide teachers’ strike has crowded the Kenyan capital’s “reggae music discotheques” with unoccupied children.
Bars and clubs were raided after complaints that they had become crowded with schoolchildren during the three-week strike. Police say that most of the children were later released because there were an insufficient number of cells.
Musau Ndunda, Secretary General of the Kenya National Association of Parents, said that the fault lied with Kenya’s government, who have failed to resolve the ongoing industrial action.
Kenyan teachers are demanding a pay increase from a deal with the government that dates back to 1997. The government says it is now unable to afford the deal, which would cost it $540m (£362m) in increased allowances for teachers and a further $175m to hire new teachers.
“It is the government which should be blamed for not being keen to resolve the teachers strike,” Nduna said. “Instead of playing politics, why not pay the teachers and they will go back to class and our children will definitely stream back to school.”
Nairobi central police chief Patrick Oduma said the raids were carried to put a stop to young boys converging on “reggae music discotheques”.
“To our surprise we found there is a very big number of under-age children,” he said. “We have arrested the bar operators although we are yet to get the owners.” He added that only 116 of the children have been kept in custody.
