Female athletes to hold procession in Eldoret, escort Rebeca Cheptegei's body

Female athletes have planned to hold a major procession in Eldoret on Friday.

They will be joined by human and women rights activists in a march from Zion Mall in town to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital morgue.

This will be part of the fight against femicide and Gender Based Violence that has led to the death of several top athletes in the recent past.

At the morgue, they will join the family of athlete Rebecca Cheptegei in removing her body and escorting the cottage to her home at Endebes in Trans Nzoia.

The event is organised by a group calling itself End Femicide Kenya Movement which has been agitating that being a woman should not be a death sentence.

Female lawyers have also joined the call to fight femicide and will be part of the sensitisation procession in Eldoret.

Lawyer Mercy Rutto said they were alarmed by increased cases of femicide and GBV cases targeting mostly female athletes.

“We will take action to help protect and enforce the rights of women to life, especially the athletes," she said.

The women have listed recent cases of athletes who were murdered in the region including Edith Muthoni, Damaris Mutua, Agnes Tirop and latest case of Rebeca Cheptegei.

Cheptegei's body will then be taken to her home at Bukwo in Uganda.

She will be accorded a military burial by the UPDF on Saturday.