The Deputy Government Spokesperson, Mwanaisha Chidzuga released a statement on Tuesday, November 5, outlining the resolutions stemming from a stakeholders engagement forum held to discuss the alarming rates of femicide in the country.
Graced by the Principal Secretary (PS) for the State Department of Gender & Affirmative Action Anne Wang’ombe, Senior Economic Advisor to the president, Moses Kuria, and Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Eliud Lagat, the breakfast meeting concluded with several resolutions that would help stop the vice.
According to the statement, Kuria announced that the government would be engaging the Communication Authority of Kenya (CAK) to instill some regulations that would ensure that perpetrators or prospective perpetrators are caught and prosecuted.
Some of these regulations will involve monitoring short-rental facilities like Air BNBs as well as monitoring phone activity including phone transactions, and conversations to help authorities in tracking criminals conducting Gender-Based Violence (GBV) crimes and more so femicides.
Deputy Government Spokesperson Mwanaisha Chidzuga during a stakeholders meeting on femicide on November 5, 2024.
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In her statement, Chidzuga clarified that the short-term rental company was not to blame for the flare-up in murder cases even though several femicide cases reported in the last months have been committed in such abodes.
“We should not be blaming the Air BNBs because they are there for business it is the culprits who are portraying a negative image to air BNBs but through the regulation that will be put in place they will be nabbed,” she stated.
Further cementing her stance on the importance of monitoring social media use, Chidzuga urged Kenyans, especially parents to monitor their children’s social media use and their interactions with strangers.
She also reminded Kenyans of the annual 16 days of activism against GBV set to kick off on November 15 this year and called upon Kenyans to turn up in large numbers and work together to curb the rising cases noting that women can not continue living in fear.
On October 30, DIG Lagat’s remarked that there had been an uptick in female murders in the country totalling 97 in just the last three months, an announcement that caused an uproar from women rights activists and human rights sects across the country.
Several powerful groups including the Kenya Women Parliamentary Association and Federation of Women Lawyers in Kenya (FIDA-Kenya) have called upon the government to intervene and come up with regulations to stop this worrying trend thus this Tuesday morning’s meeting.
During the swearing-in ceremony of Kithure Kindiki as deputy president on Friday, President Ruto addressed the issue for the first time and directed the homicide detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to initiate an immediate probe into the deaths of several women and girls who had fallen victim to such crimes.
“I know that recently, we have seen incidents of our girls, our mothers, and women who have been murdered in cold blood. Let me say this, the DCI and all the investigative authorities in Kenya must stand up to these criminals,” he stated.
Moses Kuria addresses stakeholders at a breakfast meeting on November 5, 2024.
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