• Kenya has in recent days experienced a surge in femicide cases where some of the young victims lost their lives in the hands of total strangers.
• Among them is university student Rita Waeni whose decapitated and dismembered body was on January 14 found wrapped in waste paper at an apartment in Roysambu.
Image: FILE
Nominated MP Sabina Chege is advocating for the establishment of counselling and mentorship forums in institutions of higher learning to sensitise girls on femicide.
In an interview with the Star on Tuesday, the former Murang’a Woman Rep said whereas anti-femicide protests are key in calling authorities to action, the forums would create more awareness of the girls.
“If this was organised in universities, in the colleges where they have hostels or somewhere like the University of Nairobi, we would have gone and called all those girls [and] create awareness, they would have had more impact rather than just going to the street.
“Because once you go to the streets, yes you do it for the media and everything else but you don’t communicate much. The best way is to interact with those girls,” she said.
On Saturday, women groups and rights activities organised street protests in Nairobi and other major towns to call for action following a spike in incidents of women turning up dead.
In some of the cases, some of the young victims lost their lives in the hands of strangers they just met.
Among them is university student Rita Waeni whose decapitated and dismembered body was on January 14 found wrapped in waste paper at an apartment in Roysambu with the head missing.
Detectives established that she was lured to her death in an Airbnb all the way from Syokimau in Machakos county by a man she met on Instagram.
Sabina said counselling and mentorship will go a long way in helping other girls who have been traumatised by such acts but have no one to speak to.
“Give them a chance where they can have forums where people come to talk to them, where they can openly discuss what they go through in college and maybe why they are led to such situations,” she said.
Sabina further advised girls to embrace self-sufficiency, patience and hard work to avoid being easy targets of criminals who are out to take advantage of them.
“Counseling and mentorship and girls accepting that you cannot start from the top, what comes easy goes easy," she said.
"Girls need to know how to work hard and not just look at money because when money comes in, you will have to pay for it.”
On Tuesday, Director of Criminal Investigations Mohamed Amin assigned a special team the mandate of investigating all reported cases of sexual offences and murder against women and ensuring culprits are brought to book.
He said a total of 94 cases of killings of women and girls were reported to the DCI between 2021 and 2024.
“These killings have cast a dark shadow over our safety and security endeavours; we must put this menace to an end with remarkable speed and finality,” he said.
Amin vowed to avail all capacity and resources at his disposal for the team which comprises criminal intelligence analysts and forensic experts to deliver on its mandate.
So far, he said, 65 suspects have been arraigned in various courts over sexual offences and murder incidents involving women.