by Nurat Uthman
Kenyan police dispersed a peaceful march commemorating International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women in Nairobi with tear gas on Monday.
A handful of protesters had shown up for the anti-femicide march on a drizzling morning
Chanting slogans like “stop killing women, women’s lives matter” and “the constitution is our strength”, the protesters lamented the police’s reaction and highlighted what they said was a lack of government action.
Happy Olal, a social justice activist, found it puzzling that Kenya’s president William Ruto was complaining about femicide.
On Friday, President Ruto at a graduation ceremony was quoted saying “We want to understand what drives someone to commit femicide and where society has adopted a laid-back approach in all these,”.
“Ruto cannot come and say there is femicide, he has an extra role. He should tell us how many people have been arrested this year because of femicide. How many? They cannot come and complain like us, why are they the government?” quizzed Olal.
According to Kenyan police agencies, 97 cases of femicide have been reported in various parts of the country in the last three months alone.
