Some 30 youth and women's lobby groups are calling on the government to declare femicide a national emergency and include it as a distinct criminal offence in the country's penal code, following an alarming rise in the vice.
They have launched a three-day nationwide peaceful demonstration across the country in response to the rising cases of femicide.
In a petition endorsed by the organisations and presented to Nyeri County Commissioner Pius Murugu on Friday, where the demonstrations were launched nationwide, the protesters, who are human rights activists, people living with disabilities, survivors of gender-based violence, torture and human trafficking, said the recent cases were indicative of a wider societal problem.
"The brutal murder of Starlet Wahu, the dismemberment of Rita Waeni and the tragic death of Malkia are not isolated incidents, but highlight widespread gender inequality, entrenched patriarchal norms and the lack of effective measures to protect women and girls in their diversity," reads part of the document.
According to the lobby groups, the constitution guarantees the freedom and security of all citizens, regardless of gender, age or background, and they say that every life lost to femicide represents a significant failure of the state to uphold the law.
"It is for this reason that we call on the Cabinet Secretary for Interior, Professor Kithure Kindiki, and the Cabinet Secretary for Gender and Affirmative Action, Aisha Jumwa, to take immediate action and address this crisis as a threat to national security," the lobby groups said.
The organisations also noted that femicide has affected women of all backgrounds, including their political affiliations, age groups, race, religion, sexual identity and socio-economic class.
Women's rights activists and residents of Nyeri join a procession in Nyeri town on January 26, 2024 to protest against the prevalence of femicide in the country. The group presented a petition to Nyeri County Commissioner Pius Murugu.
Photo credit: Joseph Kanyi | Nation Media Group
During the peaceful protests in Nyeri, where a group of women and youth marched through the town, actress Catherine Kamau, who led the demonstrations, expressed concern about the increasing and disturbing deaths of young girls and women.
The actress said it was unfair that society tended to see it as a moral issue without addressing the root causes.
She said it was unfair for the public to judge the morality of the victims, many of whom are young girls.
"This is despite the fact that the country's statistics show that of the 542 femicide deaths recorded since 2016, 245 were committed by husbands, 130 by boyfriends and 99 by strangers," she said.
Njeri Mwangi, a gender activist who works with the Coalition for Peace and Gender Champions in Kenya, an NGO, noted a worrying trend that femicide deaths are most common at the beginning of the year and disproportionately affect college girls.
"As an organisation, we've noticed that every year, especially in the early months of January and February, we have to publicly denounce the killing of college girls because of the high numbers," she said.
The protests in the county came just a day after the body of a pregnant woman was found dumped along a public road, the Ichamara-Tangathi road in Mukurweini on Thursday.
Though County Commissioner Murugu said the matter was under investigation, he cautioned against prematurely concluding that it was a case of femicide.
"The police have currently registered the body as unclaimed and are conducting investigations to know who the deceased is, trace her family and how she ended up there," he said.
Mr Murugu said that despite the recent alarming cases of femicide where bodies were found in short-stay accommodation apartments, Nyeri has seen relatively few such incidents.
"For example, in the month of December, we did not have any femicide deaths. Instead, the county reported 26 assaults, six suicides, two murders and one rape as the most common crimes," he explained.
While expressing support for the nationwide protests, he urged the lobby groups to also raise public awareness, citing a growing trend in which rural women often remain silent even after repeated assaults by their husbands in an effort to protect their families.
"This in turn has made it difficult for the police to apprehend such individuals," he added.
The nationwide protests will continue tomorrow in Nakuru, Kisumu, Machakos, Nairobi and Busia counties.
