Women leaders demand action on femicide increase

By Robert Mutasi 

The cases of femicide and gender-based violence against women and girls have prompted a group of female legislators to demand action.

The leaders denounced the growing number of GBV and femicide incidents that have occurred recently across the nation.

Led by the host, Nakuru Woman Representative Liza Chelule, they decried the recent atrocities against women and girls in counties. 

In reaction to the recent murders of women in Nakuru County's Rongai Sub-county, the legislators urged security services to make sure those responsible are held accountable.

Speaking in Nakuru during the National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF) empowerment equipment distribution to various women's groups were women representatives from various counties.

"We have seen these things of femicide here in Kenya. We respectfully request that we must be ambassadors, and we must begin to fight against gender-based violence for both males and females," said Liza Chelule, Nakuru Woman Representative.

Chelule asked why these kinds of things were occurring and demanded that everyone take responsibility for making sure that women's and girls' rights are upheld by the law. 

"We respectfully ask men, we are your daughters, your mothers and sisters, please spare our lives. We are getting so tired," she admitted.

Leaders asked men to desist from harming girls and women in the society instead of looking for an alternative to solving conflicts. 

"Gender Based Violence does not mean only for mothers until the males. We must end these familiar fighting here in society," she stated.

The recent incident involved four female bodies discovered in maize plantations in Menengai ward, Nakuru. 

Four injured victims, three of whom were missing fingers,were discovered dumped. 

In Rongai and Bahati Constituencies, cases of femicide and insecurity have been on the rise. 

According to data from Kenya's Demographic and Health Survey of 2023, 2.8 million of the country's 11 million female citizens reported having been the victim of physical or sexual abuse by an intimate partner at some point in their lives.