Governor Otuoma terms gender based violence a threat to human rights

By Peter Ochieng

Busia governor Paul Nyongesa Otuoma has described Gender Based Violence (GBV) as the biggest threat to human rights, personal growth and general development.

Speaking on Friday in his office when he played host to Ann Wang'ombe, Principal Secretary (PS) Gender and Affirmative Action, the county chief said no one deserves to be subjected to GBV, because of the physical and psychological harm involved.

He called on perpetrators to change, before the law catches up with them.

“As a people, we have to come together and put measures in place towards preventing GBV in our society. The long arm of the law will catch up with the perpetrators, but the most important thing is for people to be sensitized on reporting cases,” said Otuoma.

“We don’t want to see our school going children being abused. We don’t want to see our sisters, mothers and even young boys being subjected to abuse,” he added.

PS Wang’ombe was in Busia for the national launch of the annual 16 days of activism against gender based violence.

The 16 days is an international campaign to challenge violence against women and girls.

The campaign runs every year from 25th November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, to 10 December, the Human Rights Day.

According to the 2022 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS) report, 34 per cent of women have experienced physical violence since the age of 15, with violence being committed by any perpetrator, including current and former spouses or other intimate partners.

The PS said president William Ruto’s administration is committed to ensuring that cases of GBV come down.

“We are happy with the leadership of Busia county because it has been very supportive, and together we are confident that we are going to bring down cases of GBV," she stated.

The global theme of this year’s 16 days of activism against gender-based violence is “Unite! Invest to prevent violence against women and girls.”