The Cabinet has approved the establishment of a presidential working group to develop a comprehensive approach to addressing femicide.
The working group will engage religious leaders, parents, schools, security agencies, and all other stakeholders to identify gaps in law, enforcement, and social values contributing to the crisis.
The team will be gazetted with clear terms of reference and tasked with delivering actionable recommendations within 90 days.
President William Ruto chaired the last cabinet meeting for this year.
The country has recently faced a wave of femicide cases with Kenyans, leaders and civil society calling for action in a bid to end the menace.
In November, Ruto called on security agencies in the country to combat the worrying trend of femicide in the country.
The President expressed concern that women and girls in the country have been losing their lives after being killed in cold blood.
“I know that of recently we have seen incidences of our girls, our mothers, our women who have been murdered in cold blood,” Ruto said.
“Let me say the DCI and all the investigative authorities in the Republic of Kenya must stand up to these criminals and we must deal with them decisively and firmly.”
He called on society as a whole to be on the lookout for such criminals who go around luring girls and women into insecure places before murdering them.
“I want to ask us as a society to be careful with strangers, to be careful with people who lure our girls and our women into situations that compromise their security but we must be on the lookout all of us as a nation,” Ruto said.
The Federation of Women Lawyers in Kenya (Fida) condemned what they termed as an alarming rise in femicide in the country.
Mark Owuor, head of communications at Fida-Kenya, said the recent surge in femicide is both heartbreaking and alarming.
“This crisis represents a gross violation of women's constitutional rights to life, safety, and security and reflects systemic failures in protecting women across Kenya,” Owuor said.
Fida-Kenya recently issued a presser fronting demands to the government on the rising femicide cases. This situation received attention from the National Police Service, Gender PS, DCI, and the President.
Fida had urged the state to deploy necessary resources towards the investigation and prosecution of all perpetrators of femicide in the country.
“We maintain that femicide is a crisis, and we must start from there. This issue cannot be ignored—it is a national emergency that requires urgent, coordinated interventions to ensure the safety and dignity of every woman and girl in Kenya,” Owuor said.
