HIV/Aids activists in Kenya have been shocked by the first ladys comments that young people had “no business” using condoms, reports BBC Online Saturday.
Lucy Kibaki called on students at a school prize-giving to abstain from sex in order to avoid infection with HIV. Her statement contradicts government policy that promotes condom use.
Mrs Kibaki is influential, as she chairs the Organisation of the 40 African First Ladies Against HIV/Aids. This stance puts her in line with Ugandan first lady Janet Museveni, who backs a campaign for young Ugandans to pledge abstinence until marriage.
– Those who are still in school have no business having access to condoms. Those who are in university and are not married have no business having condoms in their halls of residence, she told schoolgirls in the capital, Nairobi, on Thursday evening.
However, Aids activists say research shows that young people in Kenya are often sexually active from the age of 14. Some 1,5 million Kenyans have died of Aids or HIV-related diseases since 1984.
It is not the first time Mrs Kibaki has courted controversy. Last year, she stormed the offices of the Daily Nation newspaper to complain at coverage of her and slapped a cameraman filming the outburst, BBC adds.
