A 25-year-old single mother of three was Tuesday charged with selling her three-year-old infant for Sh10,000.
Sarahi Kwamboka appeared before Kitui resident magistrate Johnstone Munguti facing child trafficking charges. She was charged alongside the alleged child buyer, Bernadette Musanya.
The Court was told that Ms Kwamboka gave birth to a girl named Fridah Mutheu at Kanyangi health centre in Kitui rural constituency on December 29 and sold it to Ms Musanya three days later on New Year’s day.
The suspects were both arrested on January 3 as the buyer planned to flee to the neighbouring Machakos County.
They pleaded guilty to the charges and were remanded at Kitui GK prison awaiting report on the custody of the newborn from the children’s department before a ruling is made.
Kwamboka defended her actions saying she did it out of desperation because she could not afford to raise her newborn alongside her two other children.
Reports suggest that her neighbours at Kanyangi, where she survives by doing casual laundry work, raised the alarm and reported the missing child to the police after they failed to see her breastfeed.
The case will be heard on January 18.
