NAIROBI, Kenya — Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has challenged parents to take a more active role in raising their children, arguing that growing cases of school unrest, violence, and indiscipline reflect a breakdown in parental guidance and mentorship.
Speaking during a church service at AIC Plainsview South B Church on Sunday, Murkomen said many parents have become too occupied with work and other commitments, leaving children to be influenced by technology rather than family values.
“We have become committed to our workplaces and left our children to be brought up by computers, phones, and television. Our children spend most of their time on PlayStations because they do not have enough time with us,” he said.
The Interior CS urged parents to examine whether they are instilling the same values that previous generations received through family guidance, religious instruction, and community mentorship.
“So I think the challenge for us as parents is to ask ourselves this question: Are we doing the same things that our parents did for us? Do we have time for our children for Bible study? Do we have time to bring them to Sunday school? Do we recite memory verses with them?” he asked.
Murkomen linked recent incidents of school arson, violence, and unrest among learners to what he described as a gradual erosion of parental responsibility.
“So when we see children burning schools, harming their friends and engaging in other troubling behaviour, it reflects the things we have failed to do consistently in raising them,” he said.
He also criticised the tendency by some parents to blame government officials, teachers, and schools whenever children encounter behavioural challenges.
“The easiest targets become the Cabinet Secretary for Interior, the Cabinet Secretary for Education, teachers, or the government. But the government cannot raise your children. The government cannot take your children to Sunday school. It cannot read the Bible to them at home or teach them good manners,” he said.
According to Murkomen, paying school fees should not be viewed as the end of parental responsibility. He argued that teachers are increasingly constrained in providing mentorship because some parents resist disciplinary measures and undermine educators.
“As a result, teachers become increasingly hands-off. They come to class, teach, and leave. Lessons are completed, but mentorship is missing,” he said.
The Cabinet Secretary called for stronger family structures, faith-based mentorship, and greater parental involvement in children’s lives, describing them as critical tools for addressing challenges facing young people.
“Where then is the solution? The solution is in Sunday school. The solution is in strong, functioning churches and parents who take responsibility by bringing their children to the house of God, where they can be taught faith and values,” he said.
Condemns All Saints Cathedral Attack
Murkomen also addressed the recent invasion of All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi by suspected hired goons, describing the incident as “extremely unfortunate and unacceptable.”
The CS said investigators were using CCTV footage to identify suspects involved in the disruption and robbery of participants.
“We know that they were captured on CCTV. The DCI is already analysing the CCTV camera. One of them was arrested immediately, and a number are being arrested,” he said.
Murkomen vowed that those responsible would be brought to justice and announced intensified operations targeting organised criminal gangs operating in Nairobi and other urban centres.
“Our next phase of security operation is to exterminate this threat of gangs,” he said.
He added that the Nairobi Metropolitan Police, alongside approximately 10,000 newly recruited police officers expected to graduate later this year, would strengthen security operations in the capital and other major towns.
“This Nairobi with the Nairobi Metropolitan Police and with the strength of police officers who are going to graduate in September, about 10,000 police officers that we recruited recently, that strength will enable us to do a better job and to make our cities a safer place to live in,” he said.
Murkomen noted that similar security operations conducted in towns such as Nakuru and Kitale had helped reduce gang activity, expressing confidence that enhanced enforcement would improve public safety across urban areas.
