Clergy must speak for women

Earlier this year, villagers at Riang’ombe-Nene, at Amariba in Kisii County, reportedly stumbled on suspected sex-enhancing drugs in a house where a Pentecostal cleric allegedly defiled a Grade Four girl, 8, after she had been sent by her mother to deliver breakfast to the ‘man of the cloth’

At the height of the HIV/Aids epidemic, when up to 12 million people were infected across sub-Saharan Africa, Nyumbani Children’s Home offered refuge to Kenya’s dying children.

Later, the institute, run by a Catholic charity, fought for the first batches of antiretroviral drugs for its sick toddlers. Contributions poured in, especially from America personalities.

But the privately funded orphanage allegedly concealed terrible secrets of abuse and rape of the children by their caregivers. A 2019 Kenyan TV feature, “Defiled in Church”, sparked outrage amid condemnation of the pedophiles disguised as priests.

It is a pity that we keep witnessing many cases of sexual abuse by clergy in the country but justice has never been served. The “moral custodians” of our nation are the ones making headlines for ruining, endangering and, sometimes, ending young lives.

Thousands of children and women worldwide have become victims or rape, sexual assault, child marriage, sexual mutilation and human trafficking due to the church’s negligence and outright defiance of local and international laws.

In 2022 alone, Kenya recorded 725 femicide cases, shows a UN Office on Drugs and Crime report, the highest number since data collection began in 2015. In 2023, more than 150 Kenyan women were murdered. Studies reveal that one of the main root causes of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in the country is cultural and religious beliefs.

Religious ideologies on a woman being inferior to a man promote the perception of their being “unclean” and portray virtuous women as “submissive”. Religion depresses women’s rights in general and their reproductive health and choices in particular.

We cannot claim to be Christian but remain silent on the raging epidemic among women and girls.

- Mr Mokaya is a sexual and reproductive health and rights expert at Naya Kenya. [email protected]