Seek help, Prof Kobia asks male victims of GBV

Isabela Mukiri was a physically fit woman, going about her duties and earning her living from tilling their family land, six years ago. But her experience of April 4, 2016, changed all these.

As she prepared food for her two children that Monday evening, Ms Mukiri was worried about her husband, Peter Kirai who had been accused of setting ablaze his brother’s house the previous night. He had gone to the police station to report threats on his life by his brother’s children.

After he fled, Ms Mukiri says, she did not suspect that her in laws had hatched a plan to eliminate her and her children. She went about her house chores and at around 7.30pm, went to a nearby shop to buy milk. They waylaid her and struck.

“They were four …they descended on me with pangas and slashed me all over the body. One of them shouted, ‘let's finish her!' and aimed at my head but luckily, I managed to block the blow with my left hand, which was chopped off. They thought I was dead so they ran away,” she recounts.

“I stayed in hospital for several months and after I was discharged, I could not continue with any work. I became disabled and as I tried to adjust I got so frustrated and depressed that I felt there was no motivation for living. My husband does menial jobs and unlike in the past when I could chip in with some income, I had to rely on him for everything,” she says.

Rescue Centre

Luckily, Meru Woman Representative Ms Kawira Mwangaza, helped her pick the pieces of her life, and paid school fees for her children. “Although some of the suspects were arrested, charged in court and jailed, I have never recovered. I still fear that I might be attacked,” says the mother of two.

Ms Mukiri is just one of the many women who have been subjected to gender-based violence (GBV) in Meru.

As a result, an idea of building a rescue centre in the county was born.

During the commissioning of the Mwangaza GBV Rescue and Resource Centre last week, Public Service and Gender Cabinet Secretary Prof Margaret Kobia said besides offering refuge to GBV victims, the facility would also play a key role in educating members of the community on how to counter the vice.

“GBV is a barrier to women empowerment. The centre will assist since there are facilities such as sewing machines for use in training them to become self-reliant. We will also sensitize members of the public on how to prevent GBV,” Prof Kobia said, adding that a clinic will also be established at the centre.

“We should also note that GBV is not only perpetrated on women since 10 per cent of reported cases involve males. I call upon men suffering to come out and report so that they are assisted,” she added.

Economic suffering

Ms Mwangaza said at least Sh50 million had been spent on the centre, with funding from the National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF).

“GBV results to physical, psychological and economic suffering of the victims and we are determined to ensure it is minimized. The centre will address this challenge and equip those affected with skills to empower them,” Ms Mwangaza said.

Chair of NGAAF Board Florence Kalekye, said the Meru centre was the first of several other such facilities under construction in other parts of country with similar centres being built in Bungoma, Migori, Kisii and Vihiga.

According to Meru County Education, Technology, Gender and Social Development CEC Linah Nkirote, the sexual and gender-based violence policy established by the county government two years ago, had played a key role in raising awareness on GVB.

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