War on Gender Based Violence intensifies as case reporting rises from 5 to 75%

Mt Elgon, Monday, May 15, 2023

KNA by Douglas Mudambo

The Kenya Red Cross, Bungoma County chapter in collaboration with other partners has intensified the fight against Gender Based Violence, which has seen many cases getting reported to various government agencies.

Sensitisation about GBV has seen a marked improvement in case reporting compared to the previous years when most cases were never reported either through ignorance or were solved in Kangaroo courts hence denying victims justice.

While engaging participants during a stakeholders’ forum held at a hotel in Kanduyi suburb of Bungoma County, Tumo Kimeto from the Monitoring and Evaluation department in Bungoma County said survey on GBV cases indicated that between 2020 to 2022 the number of reported cases per ward increased.

Kimeto said that in 2020 Cheptais Ward led in the county by 138 GBV cases reported followed by Kabuchai/Chwele Ward with 109 and Bungoma township with 108; a total of 1051cases was reported that year.

“In 2021 Kibingei Ward led with 315 cases followed by Bumula Ward which reported 192, Matulo and Mbakalo Wards each had 107 cases respectively with a total of 2185 cases reported that year,” said Kimeto.

He said that in 2022 Cheptais Ward led with 465 GBV cases reported followed by Bungoma Township Ward with 248 and Kibingei Ward reported191 cases. The total cases reported that year was 2893.

Kimeto noted that the most affected age group was between 9 to 17 years.

Janet Khisa, the  Bungoma County GBV coordinator  said that from the survey it was established that there are three major forms of GBV prevalent in Bungoma County led by Sexual Gender Based violence which is very common to school going children by either teen to teen or adults to teens.

Mrs. Khisa added that another form of GBV is physical violence which is common among married couples noting that this may cause bodily harm, disability and even death.

“Another one is psychological/emotional violence and most of such cases are not reported but one will eventually find a child or an adult committing suicide due to emotional violence,” she said.

The County GBV coordinator further noted that there are contributing factors for GBV in Bungoma County among them being culture.

Mrs.Khisa said most communities in the county are affiliated to a given culture which contributes to GBV and cited the example of the Sabaot community where the practice of Female Genital Mutilation as a rite of passage is entrenched adding that immediately a girl undergoes the cut, she believes she is an adult irrespective of the age.

Poverty is noted as another cause of GBV. This due to inadequate resources hence parents undergo a hard time to care for families. Due to lack of basic needs young people are forced to look for another way to survive which makes them end up being sexually violated.

“Alcohol and drug abuse was also singled out as a cause of GBV mostly under physical violence where most people tend to get violent and commit rape after consumption of alcohol,” she noted

Mrs Khisa further said the media also played a role in cases reported especially social media where most young persons can easily access pornography on their phones which agitates them to practice sex thus exposing themselves to and getting affected by sexual violence.

“Religion was also one of the key factors aiding the spread of GBV through religious faithful getting obsessed and submissive to religious leaders hence they can easily be misled and end up finding themselves in psychological or emotional violence,” said Mrs Khisa. 

Kenya Red Cross Bungoma County in collaboration with the government of Finland through a three-year bilateral program has embarked on a series of sensitization engagement forums to curb the vice in the county.

Kenya Red Cross Bungoma County program coordinator Mrs. Margaret Wanyonyi said that due to the numerous cases reported, Kenya Red Cross had to come up with new strategies on how to curb the vice in the county.

“The first strategy was to sensitize the survivors to report the cases to the nearby government agencies and this we have achieved since the cases reported have increased from 5 percent to 75 percent hence, we can now have a point of reference for perpetrators to be brought to book,” Mrs. Wanyonyi.

Mrs. Wanyonyi said that the survey conducted by the County Monitoring and Evaluation department indicated that the most affected were between the ages of 9-17 years.

“There was a need to engage them and so far, the Kenya Red Cross Bungoma County has visited a total of 58 schools both primary, Junior Secondary and Secondary schools with a message and sensitization on GBV,” she said.

The program coordinator said Kenya Red Cross has held numerous engagements with the council of elders from the Sabaot community to come up with an alternative rite of passage for the girl child and assured the stakeholders that their engagement will bear fruits.

“Kenya Red Cross Bungoma County is engaging women from poor backgrounds and survivors on coming up with income generating projects that can help them earn a source of income to support families an example being women from Kopsiro and Kapsokwony who were affected by post-election violence in 2007/2008 and 2017/2018,” said Mrs.Wanyonyi

Mrs.Wanyonyi said they also engage the youth and the elderly in sporting activities in the county by organizing sports tournaments to keep the youth busy to prevent them from engaging in alcohol and drug abuse.

She said they are also mentoring school going children on how to engage on social media responsibly, adding they will lobby the government to ensure that local content in media is given priority and added that they plan to partner with the press in the county to assist fight against GBV.

Mrs.Wanyonyi also said that in their engagement with various groups, they ask them to be cautious about religious groupings likely to lead them into a cult resulting in emotional/psychological violence that may drive them to commit suicide.

The program coordinator said to achieve zero GBV cases in the county they have put mechanisms in place to ensure all services offered are free of charge from the beginning of reporting of cases at the police station to courts of law. 

Kimilili Sub  County deputy police commander Evans Nyakundi said most GBV cases fail to meet the threshold especially sexual GBV because of late reporting.

Nyakundi said that most cases are reported after the two parties have failed to agree in kangaroo courts which makes it difficult to get evidence.

He noted that some health facilities lack equipment to preserve evidence hence making it difficult when the evidence is required for examination.

Sirisia law court magistrate Raymond Langat said a major challenge in the criminal justice system for GBV was witnesses failing to come to court after either engaging in kangaroo courts in the villages or due to other reasons which in most cases water down the case.

Langat stressed that evidence is paramount to any case in a court of law and added there is need to provide evidence on GBV cases.

The magistrate also cited that the transfer of medical and police officers who are key witnesses to the cases may prolong the case and delay justice for victims.

Medical practitioners pointed out the challenge of lack of equipment and frequenting courts to testify yet cases are postponed.

The County GBV coordinator in a quick response said that they have brought on board other sponsors in the fight against GBV hence hospitals will be provided with a financial kitty to enable them handle the cases and ensure that the survivors do not pay any money.

Participants at the forum proposed that there is need to have a GBV unit in both the police and courts dealing with GBV cases in Bungoma to avoid delay of cases.

Stakeholders at the forum further agreed on the need for devolving witness protection units and putting up of a proper gender desk at police stations, safe houses for survivors and children’s facilities at Kimilili and Sirisia police stations respectively due to their proximity to the courts.

Bungoma County Commissioner through his representative Christian Chacha pledged to work with all stakeholders to curb GBV in the county.

Among the stakeholders who were present at the engagement included police, medical practitioners, bodaboda, youths, departmental heads, school head teachers, ODPP, magistrates among others.

 Courtesy; K.N.A