Police in Juja, Kiambu County, have seized expired sanitary pads labeled Government of Kenya (GoK), at a residential house under construction in Witethie.
The pads from the Ministry of Education valued at over Ksh300,000 were allegedly being repackaged for sale.
Addressing the press, Juja Sub-county Police Commander Dorothy Migarusha stated that police have launched a manhunt for the owner of the house identified as Stephen Muchoki who is still at large.
Read: School Where Pupil Committed Suicide After Menses Shame Had 77 Packets Of Sanitary Pads – TSC
The officer said the businessman has been doing the illegal business for the last two years.
“Some residents have told us that these sanitary towels were brought here back in 2018 and that Mr Muchoki leaves this unfinished house with loaded sacks to unknown destination. We are looking for him to explain how government property landed in his house and why,” said Migarusha.
The residents decried increased cases of Urinary Tract Infections (UTI) among females which they attributed to use of expired sanitary towels.
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The residents have now called on authorities to be on a high alert to curb the illegal business.
“It’s a shame that someone is making money out of free goods that are distributed by the government! It is quite sad that they are even expired towels no wonder we have so many cases of Urinary Tract Infections around,” a resident identified as Zena Rotich said.
The government launched a program to provide school girls who have reached puberty with free sanitary pads in October 2011.
Read Also: President Uhuru Signs Law Giving School Girls Free Sanitary Pads
In 2017, President Uhuru Kenyatta signed into law the Basic Education Amendment Act which placed the responsibility of providing free, sufficient and quality sanitary towels on the government in order to reduce the number of girls missing school during their menstrual cycle.
Despite the government spending millions in the program every year, there have been cases that some schools don’t receive enough pads with some girls not receiving at all.
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