Silhouettes

Nakuru, April 2012

The reality of gender violence in Kenya is horrid! The silence in which sexual violence is shrouded is unwittingly annoying and disturbing.

The accounts are well written

On their faces, in their eyes

Engraved in their hearts and soul

The hurt is overwhelming

But, hush! Their lips remain sealed

The voice long gone – a distant hollow

The road to justice, overgrown

While on field assignments educating the public or sensitizing communities and stakeholders on sexual and gender based violence and collecting information on one aspect or other on sexual violence, I have interacted with both state and non-state actors.

I recently made such a trip to Nakuru to conduct a mapping exercise of all stakeholders working on gender based violence in the district. Naturally, my visit would call for interactions with the police, health workers, social workers, the judiciary, counsellors, legal aid workers and many others including the provincial administration.

As you could imagine, there has been a lot of blame-game in this field: the police blame the healthworker and vice versa, the chief blames the police, the public point an accusing finger towards everybody else when cases fail to yield justice. Usually, there are a lot of feelings of compromise. As a partner, we find ourselves in this mix. Our work, therefore, is to support coordination mechanisms that will see the survivor/victim access justice while also looking at approaches to prevent gender based violence. In doing this, we hope to minimize cases of lack of evidence, withdrawal of cases, non-reporting or even the chiefs taking up arbitration. Educating the public on the sexual offences act, what to do in case of violation and where to report is core to our work. As well, training of stakeholders on collection, diagnosis and preservation of evidence is key to pleading a case in the corridors of justice.

Back to my Nakuru assignment: At the Filadelfia women and girls shelter I met happy women who have been supported towards economic empowerment. Different groups engage in different income generating activities such as beading and jewellery making, basket weaving using waste paper, crotchet work and environment friendly cooking fuels. Almost all groups’ members have passed through the shelter but found alternatives and moved on but still continue with their groups’ activities.  I was informed that the shelter provides a home for women and girls who have faced gender based violence. The shelter provides accommodation for up to six months while the survivors find alternatives. During their stay, they get affiliated to the different activities and groups around the shelter.

Then, the most heart-rending accounts of sexual and gender based violence started trickling in:

Case A:

A person with disability has been married to a woman who has no disability. The man has turned to battering his wife accusing her of all manner of misgivings. The woman does not retaliate for fear of being accused of cruelty to a disabled person. The man uses his crutches as a hitting stick.

When the neighbours could not take it any longer, one took the matter up with the area chief. Through the chief’s intervention, the survivor reported the matter to the police (Child and Women Protection Unit). The police are carrying out investigations.

Case B:

Tired of disagreements with her husband, Maria (not her real name) packed her little possessions and left her matrimonial home. Trudging on her mother’s skirt was 15 year old Nima (not her real name) looking frustrated but happy to leave their home. However, Maria left her younger children (daughter and son) under the care of her beastly husband. Sunset after sunset drew by without any sign of Maria’s return. The husband turned his frustrations onto his daughter – a beautiful 12 year old. Suddenly, and without warning, Juli (not her real name) started spending nights of misery under her father’s belly. She cried her heart out but there was no one to hear her – her younger brother watched helplessly.

When Juli’s teacher got wind of the goings on, she approached a community based organisation of trained paralegals and reported the matter. The community paralegals swung into action. Together with the police at the child protection unit, the paralegals got a vivid account of Juli’s misery. They took her to the Gender Based Recovery Centre (GBVRC) where tests were carried out and a medical report produced to affirm the claims.

To nab the culprit, the police kept Juli in custody and asked the teacher to refer the beastly dad to the police should he come calling at the school. The plan fell in place when Juli’s dad showed up at the school looking for his daughter who was not home and her brother had no idea of Juli’s whereabouts. The teacher suggested that the matter be reported to the police so that a search can be mounted.

Without wasting time, Juli’s father rushed to the police to report his missing daughter. The police locked him up and produced him in court on charges of defilement. The medical report and a witness account from Juli’s brother were enough to sign off the perpetrator to a ‘gallows’.  He earned 20 years at Kamiti Maximum without an option of a fine thanks to the Sexual Offences Act. He should thank his gods that the charges were erroneously framed under section 8 of the sexual offences act, i.e. defilement, earning him a lesser term. Had he been rightfully charged for incest under section 20: “... guilty of incest and shall be jailed for 10 years or more. However, if the victim of incest is below 18 years, then the accused person shall be jailed for life.”

According to the District Gender and Social Development Officer, Mrs Monica Wegulo, the most vulnerable in gender violence situations are the children. Being the Coordinator of the GBV working group, Mrs Wegulo said the network group has greatly facilitated coordination of key actors leading to expeditious handling of GBV cases.