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President William Ruto has urged parents to take deliberate steps to instill moral values in their children as a measure to curb the rising insecurity, criminal cases and social vices witnessed in the country.

Speaking at  AIC Kipkorgot Church in Uasin Gishu county on Sunday, December 22, 2024, Ruto stated that the rising cases of criminal activities currently witnessed in the country are due to parents and church leaders not instilling moral values in the young generation.

In addition, the head of state emphasized that addressing such issues needs a collaborative effort from parents and religious leaders adding that the government cannot preach and instill moral values to the children.

“The government of Kenya cannot parent your children, every parent must do their job, every parent must look after their children, the government of Kenya cannot preach to our children, they cannot teach our children the word of God, they cannot teach our children what is good for them,” Ruto said.

Ruto on blame games

The president went on to point out the importance of proactive parenting and mentorship, urging parents and church leaders to take an active role in guiding their children and teaching them values.

“Finger-pointing and blame games will not solve these issues. We must stop the blame game, the church wants to blame the government, parents want to blame the government for things they are supposed to do,” he said.

“I want to ask every parent to please look after your children, look after your children, mentor your children have time for your children as a parent, it is the responsibility of parents and the church to instill morals and good manners in our children, the government cannot be a parent to your children.”

He further noted that the government’s role is to enforce laws and deal with criminals, adding that creating morally upright children is the work of parents and religious leaders.

“Let me ask the religious leaders to please preach to our children, teach our children the word of God, mentor our children the government has no capacity to preach in church, it is our responsibility to deal with criminals but the criminals we deal with come as a result of the failure of parents to mentor their children as a failure of the church to teach good morals to our children,” Ruto added.

“Many people are encouraging us to arrest these people, must jail these people, and it is okay but the time we jail these people and arrest them. We are dealing with a very bad situation the criminals in all these places are our children coming from our homes and it us to stop them from being criminals by mentoring them, parenting them teaching them the word of God.”