Kisumu County Director for Gender Affairs Jane Obiero. [Photo/africanpress.wordpress.com]
Kisumu County Director for Gender Affairs Jane Obiero has released last year’s gender-based violence statistics which indicate that defilement and rape are rife in the Lakeside County.According to the statistics, 22 girls were defiled and a woman raped in Muhoroni, four girls defiled and three women raped in Maseno, four girls defiled in Ahero and two girls and three women raped in Nyalenda in the course of last year. “It does not end there. 112 children were affected psychologically after seeing their fathers being sodomized, mothers being raped or sisters being defiled. These are the cases reported to us for counseling,” said Obiero.Speaking on Monday in her office in Kisumu, Obiero said the reported cases of rape and defilement are very few compared to those that go unreported.“The major problem hindering reporting of these cases is stigma. If you are a married woman and you report that you have been raped, your husband will probably leave you,” she said.The director insisted that the only way of dealing with gender-based violence in Kisumu is by survivours coming out strongly to report so that the law can take its course against perpetrators.Obiero said they now have a recovery centre for survivours of gender-based violence at the Jaramogi Oginga Teaching and Referral Hospital.