• This has greatly raised concerns from the government, citizens, and human rights activists.

In the recent past, Kenya has been experiencing a high number of femicide cases, with lifeless bodies of women being found in various places. This has greatly raised concerns from the government, citizens, and human rights activists.

The recent case was that of 23-year-old university graduate Seth Njeri, whose body was discovered in a rented house in Biafra, Thika. Her body had injuries of triangulation, and according to detectives, the assailant sexually abused the girl before committing the atrocious act.

Additionally, on October 22, 2024, the country woke up to a sad story of the brutal murder of 3 women: a mother, a daughter and a niece, who were abducted in Eastleigh and their bodies dumped in different locations. According to the autopsy report by the government, the pathologist shows that the mother died after her hand was chopped off and her throat slit. The daughter died after being stabbed several times, while the niece died of suffocation.

These are just a few of the femicide cases that have happened in the country. According to the Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Eliud Langat, there has been 97 such cases of femicide in the country in the last 3 months.

“In the last 3 months alone, the country has reported 97 cases of femicide. This trend addresses the urgent need for focus and action to tackle the widespread problem of gender-based violence,” said Langat.

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However, the Director of Criminal Investigation (DCI), Mohammed Amin, seemed to be contradicting the (DIG) sentiments by alleging that the statistics do not indicate gender-based violence.

“We are not saying that there is a deliberate effort to target women; in the majority of the cases we have investigated, the motive is purely criminal. There was no target to a specific gender,” said Amin.

However, according to Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei, women should be careful with whoever they associate themselves with.

“Women have the right to associate with whoever they want to, but they should be careful. We cannot get the police to protect everybody, and that is why, as a society, we need to be careful and avoid toxic relationships that can lead to femicide,” said Cherargei.

The hope of the grieved families lies with the authorities to unmask what happened to their family members and for justice to be served.