[SIZE=7]Female MPs Address Gender-Based Violence[/SIZE]
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[li]By MARK OBAR on 1 December 2022 - 4:54 pm[/li]
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Members of Parliament attending Kenya Women Parliamentarians (KEWOPA) event on December 1, 2022.
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Female Members of Parliament (MPs) on Thursday, December 1, shared their experiences of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) at the hands of their loved ones.
The MPs revealed that their former and current partners have at some point in their lives become the aggressors.
In particular, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Gladys Boss told Journalists and female leaders that she was once forced to hire private security personnel to protect her.
“I have personally as an MP reported to the police violence meted on me, even when I got restraining orders against the person, police never helped, I was forced to higher young boys to help with my security,” Boss revealed.
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UDA Uasin Gishu Women Representative Gladys Boss Shollei in the middle of other poll agents at Bomas of Kenya on August 9, 2022
Boss claimed that she reported to the police but the officers declined to take action against her aggressor.
The female leaders under the Kenya Women Parliamentarians Association (KEWOPA), asked the government to take serious action against anyone who assaults a woman.
While commemorating 16 days of gender activism, the women MPs accused the police of being complicit in cases of Gender Based Violence (GBV).
Aldai MP Maryanne Keitany also shared an incident where her aggressor forcefully evicted her from a house that she had built in 2018.
She revealed that police officers escorted those who were evicting her from the property.
Keitany decided to make her ordeal public to help the many women who were silently going through domestic abuse in their marriages.
“I decided to go through a court process and I made it public. So many people know me today, not because of my previous work but because of that court case, and many people have so far spoken out because of my experience because it was like a soap opera” Keitany confirmed.
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Godfrey Maina Karobia with female Members of Parliament shortly after his win represent Kenya in EALA
KEWOPA vice chair Rosa Buyu has promised to work on legislation that will ensure the vice is uprooted from society.
“If members of parliament are going through such things, imagine what is happening to the common woman, and that is why we need to come up with innovative ways of fighting GBV, we must enhance our legislation and even involve men in this fight,” Buyu noted.
National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula has warned spouses against conducting savage attacks against each other, noting that the long arms of the law will catch up with them.
“Violence against spouses, and women in particular must stop. It’s wrong and completely unnecessary,” Wetangula warned.
Other leaders who spoke include Samburu West MP Naisula Lesuuda who noted that GBV is still rife in the society despite the huge strides made in combating the vice.
“GBV doesn’t respect positions, it doesn’t respect class, anyone can go through it, and it’s our duty to make sure that we stop this vice,” Lesuuda lamented.
