Residents of Nandi County have been warned against normalizing the killing of women and children in their midst, a leading human rights crusader has warned.
Nandi County civil rights crusader and End Femicide Coordinator, Monica Jepkoskegei told a public participation forum on Gender Based Violence (GBV) at Eliud Kipchoge Sports Complex in Nandi County that there was a big threat to normalize femicide because the locals don’t speak loudly when such incidents happen.
Jepkoskegei said she wanted the Nandi Community to collectively condemn femicide and other forms of GBV as statistics show a rise in such violent cases.
“Femicide is about societal loss, something devastating to the nation and to the children, parents and relatives of those affected,” she insisted.
She proposed that sensitization on GBV and Femicide should to be prioritised and institutionalized as a strategy to increase awareness and make communities collectively fight the vice.
“People are quiet when a femicide case happens in their community; they are quiet when they lose a mother or a sister to GBV,” she said.
She said there was an urgent need for stakeholders in Nandi including the elders who are the custodians of the culture to be involved in managing worrying rising cases of GBV and femicide in Nandi and the country at large.
Nandi County Director of Gender George Ondonga decried the rise of GBV cases and femicide especially in Tinderet and Nandi Hills Subcounties, where cases of defilement, domestic violence and rape took a worrying dimension.
Ondonga pointed out recent incidents for instance in January this year, a woman was reported killed by her estranged husband who also took his life in Nandi South Sub-County.
In June 2024, residents of Mutwot area, Nandi County discovered the body of a lady stuffed in a sack by the side of the road and the same year, an athlete lady was murdered by her boyfriend in Chesumei Sub-County indicating rise in femicide cases in the county.
He said many cases of GBV are experienced but remain unreported because resolving such cases through community kangaroo courts remains the main obstacle.
Ondonga opines that Nandi County requires a multi-sectoral approach including government agencies, healthcare providers, legal institutions and community organisations.
He singled out inadequate resources, weak data management and lack of safe spaces as main challenges to the effectiveness of GBV interventions.
On their side, the GBV participants told the visiting National Technical Working Group on GBV and Femicide that assault and defilement are common forms of GBV haunting Nandi residents.
They blamed dysfunctional families, poverty and normalization of GBV cases as the main threat to the war of GBV and Femicide in their community.
The Head of Secretariat of National Technical Working Group on GBV and Femicide visiting Nandi Philomena Chelang’at Loitarengat said the government is aware of rising cases of GBV and Femicide across the country and was collecting public views on how best the vices can be ended.
She hinted that among others the work of the Technical Working Group on GBV and Femicide was to recommend proposals to strengthen family ties, foster co-existence and support resolutions of domestic disputes.
The function was also attended by Nandi Central Deputy County Commissioner Alfet Jilo among other local leaders.
By Geoffrey Satia
