Social Economic Factors

According to the 1999 population and Housing Census, the population of Kenya stood at 28 million. Over half of this population was under 18 years. This ratio implies that the active labour force id less than the population of dependants. Although statistics show that a demographic transition has taken place in Kenya with Total Fertility rates (TFR) having declined from 8.1 in 1978 to5.4 in 1993, the current TFR of 4.7 is still considered high. Climatic patterns are the main determinants of human settlements i Kenya. Thus 80% of the population lives on 18% of he arable land with high agricultural potential with the rest of the population living on 82% of the arid and semi-arid (ASAL) lands.

The climatic differentials contribute largely to the uneven development in the country and the big gap in poverty level between regions. Studies have shown that the ASAL districts have the highest levels of poverty in Kenya. According to the 1994 Welfare Monitoring Survey, 58% of the population of North Eastern province lived below the poverty line compared to 32% in Central Province.

Frequent drought and annual flooding are a constant feature of ASAL regions. This has led to impoverishment including pervasive food stress, increased malnutrition, school dropouts and poor health of children and women. This is made worse by the absence of systems to deal with natural or manmade emergencies.

Kenya's economy is mainly agrarian. About 80% of the population is directly or indirectly in the agricultural sector. After performing so well in the post independence period, performance in the sector started declining in the early 80s. This was attributed to mismanagement of the cooperative sub-sector, coupled with unfavorable terms of trade. The poor performance has severely affected a large portion of the population, contributing greatly to the increased incidence of poverty.

For the better part of the 80s and early 90s, tourism assumed a leading role as the main foreign exchange earner. However due to increasing levels of insecurity and near collapse of the infrastructural network, performance has drastically declined and this sector now faces an uncertain future.

Health Status

Due to the poor performance in the economy, financing of social services has generally declined. Currently, financing is being done under the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF). Although funding of social services has been addressed, no specific mention of children has been made in the framework. There is therefore need to lobby for child friendly economic and financial policies.

Education

On education, Kenya has witnessed a serious downward trend in Gross Enrolment Rates (GER), especially in primary schools. GER have declined, from 95% in 1989 to 76% in 1996: with slight increase (87% in 1998). Completion rates average only 44%, and only 26.3% of this group moved on to secondary school in 1995- down from 30.7% in 1989. The drop out and repeaters rates at secondary level are still low. Disparities in access and participation persist for children with disabilities and those from disadvantaged areas and regions. For example only 15.9% of eligible children in Mandera (NEP) are enrolled in Primary school compared to 100 percent in Nyandarua (Central Province). Special Education programmes only serve about 6 percent of the handicapped children. Participation in early childhood education programmes averages 35%, with the majority of early childhood schools being based in bigger urban centres.

Impact of HIV/AIDS

Since 1984, when the first cases of HIV/AIDS were identified, the National AIDS and STD Control programme (NASCOP) had, as of July 1997, reported 75,773 cumulative cases. The zero-prevalence of HIV infection amongst women attending antenatal clinics in urban and per-urban areas has risen from less than 2% in 1985 to 14% in 1994. The NASCOP estimates that the adult HIV prevalence rose from 3.1% in 1990 to 8% in 1996. A worrying trend is the high rate of increase in rural areas. The National AIDS and STD Control Programme estimates that by 1995, adult prevalence had increased to about 7.5%. In urban areas, prevalence is estimated to be twice as high, at about 13-14%. There is little information about HIV prevalence in rural areas, but it is estimated to be around 6-7%. Estimates are that about 1.3 million people are currently infected with HIV and is expected to reach 1.7 million in the next two years. In 1995, AIDS was reported to be the leading killer of men and women aged 15-39 years in Kenya.

It is projected that the number of deaths due to AIDS among people aged 15-39 years in Kenya during the period 1995-2000 may be three times the number of deaths due to all other diseases combined. Current NASCOP estimates indicate that in 1996, there were about 300,000 Kenyan children under age 15 who had lost a parent to AIDS. The number was projected to be nearly 850,000 by the end of the year 2000 and 1.5 million by the year 2005.

It is further estimated that bed occupancy due to HIV/AIDS in some hospitals beds would represent 185% of the Ministry of Health in-patient capacity. The GoK estimates that the direct and indirect costs of HIV/AIDS will total to 15% of the GDP by the year 2000. Significant losses will be incurred in the agricultural, industrial and the service sectors. They are even more serious for the lowest income rural farm households and for the upper-income urban families.

Legal Framework

Regarding the legal framework, the Constitution of Kenya guarantees the enjoyment of individual liberties such as freedom of expression, conscience, speech, protection and religion. However, as the supreme law of the land, it fails to address three critical areas of concern with regard to children:-

• It is silent about children and assumes that their rights have already been addressed as citizens of Kenya

• Chapter 5, on Fundamental Rights and Freedoms has so many exceptions that it amounts to giving a right with one hand and taking away with the other.

• The judicial procedures set out are too restrictive to enable one to contain adequate relief.

Apart from the constitution there are numerous laws on children, scattered in over 65 statutes. Many of these statutes do not consider the Best Interests of the Child. Most are outdated and fail to reflect current thinking and philosophy. This multiplicity undermines the ability of statutes to adequately protect.

Other sources of laws which Kenya has ratified, are major international conventions that touch on children's issues. These are the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children (UNHCR) ratified on 30/07/1990 and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, ratified in 2000. It is also ratified the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1989 to address issues of the woman and the girl in 1984. These Conventions have yet to be domesticated into the Kenyan Legal system. The slow domestication of the international conventions is synonymous with justice denied.

Session Paper No. 10 of 1965 on "African Socialization and it's application to planning in Kenya" aimed at eradicating poverty, ignorance and disease and several task forces on Education formed, none including even even the most recent one," the Koech Education Report" has been fully implemented o accepted in full.

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