Parliament is investigating child trafficking claims in health facilities run by National and County Governments.

The probe began after Nominated Senator Esther Okenyuri raised the matter on the floor of the House.

Okenyuri wants the Senate Health Committee, chaired by Uasin Gishu lawmaker Jackson Mandago, to look into allegations of child trafficking in hospitals.

In 2023, a social worker at Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital was convicted for child trafficking.

The committee will also establish the disciplinary and legal actions taken against government employees found complicit in child trafficking cases.

“The committee should state the collaborative measures in place between law enforcement agencies, health authorities, and child protection services to dismantle these illegal operations,” said Okenyuri.

Okenyuri also wants the committee to provide data on child trafficking cases and reported illegal adoptions, detailing the number of cases investigated, reversed and the perpetrators prosecuted in the last five years.

According to Okenyuri, the committee should provide a list of licensed and unlicensed clinics in Nairobi’s Kayole and other identified hotspots in informal settlements.

She wants the government to shut down the clinics involved in child trafficking.

“Indicate the measures being implemented to ensure compliance with health regulations as well as the closure of facilities involved in illegal activities,” Okenyuri said.

Civil registration

In addition, the nominated lawmaker wants the committee to disclose the loopholes in the civil registration process that allow traffickers to illegally obtain birth notifications and certificates d.

Senate Speaker Amason Kingi ordered the Health Committee to immediately commence the investigations and report back to the House.

In October 2023, a Magistrate Court sitting in Nairobi sentenced a former social worker at Mama Lucy Hospital, Fred Leparan, to 35 years in jail after he was found guilty of child trafficking.

Arrested in 2020, Leparan was found guilty of child trafficking, child neglect and conspiracy to commit a crime while his co-accused Selina Adundo was sentenced to six years in jail or a Sh300,000 fine.

The pair were convicted after they were exposed in a BBC report in 2020.