Thousands of citizens have converged to protest against the recent slaying of over a dozen women in cities and towns in Kenya.
The anti-femicide demonstration was the biggest protest ever held in Kenya against sexual and gender-based violence.
In Nairobi, protesters wore T-shirts printed with inscriptions of the names of women who became homicide victims this month. The crowd, which was mostly of women, brought traffic to a standstill.
While waving signs with messages like “There is no justification to kill women”, the protesters shouted: “Stop killing us!”
The Nairobi crowd was hostile to efforts by the parliamentary representative for women, Esther Passaris, to address them. They accused Passaris of remaining silent during the latest wave of killings, protesters silenced her with chants of “Where were you?” and “Go home!”
The President of Law Society of Kenya, Eric Theuri, who was among the demonstrators, said: “A country is judged by not how well it treats its rich people, but how well it takes care of the weak and vulnerable.”
Kenyan media outlets have reported the slayings of at least 14 women since the start of the year, according to Patricia Andago, a data journalist at media and research firm Odipo Dev who also took part in the march.
The cases that triggered the protest involved two women who were killed at Airbnb accommodations. The second victim was a university student who was dismembered and decapitated after she was kidnapped for ransom.
While speaking further, Theuri said cases of gender-based violence take too long to be prosecuted in Kenyan court, which according to him emboldens perpetrators to perpetrate crimes against women.
He said: “As we speak right now, we have a shortage of about 100 judges. We have a shortage of 200 magistrates and adjudicators, and so that means that the wheel of justice grinds slowly as a result of inadequate provisions of resources.”
