NAIROBI, Kenya -                             Drama unfolded in Oloontoto village, Narok North in Kenya, Monday evening when armed police officers and a children rights activist rescued a nine-year-old girl from the manyatta (a group of huts forming a unit within a common fence) of a 40-year-old man.

The raid was met with resistance from relatives of the man as a woman believed to be his mother tried to resist the arrest. She hurled insults at the security team.

Joshua Ole Kaputa, a children rights crusader who tipped police from Narok Police Station, is said to have warned John Nchoe, through his brothers, against marrying the nine-year-old with no success.

The minor said to have been ‘married’ to Nchoe for a week.

The two were taken to Narok Police station for further interrogation.

According to the minor, she had tried in vain to resist the marriage to pursue education.

Nchoe, who was not remorseful, said he had paid a bride price and that his parents-in-law had consented to the marriage.

Ole Kaputa appealed to his tribesmen in Narok to end the old culture of child marriages and empower the girl child.

Narok County registered 40 per cent early pregnancies due to the culture of female genital mutilation and early marriages.

The culture persists despite the government illegalizing child marriages and FGM.