Women in Kiambu have raised concern over rising cases of gender violence perpetuated against women and girls and want stiffer penalties put in place to tame perpetrators.
According to the women, gender based violence will end if proper laws are put in place and enforced to the latter.
Speaking to this writer on Friday, the women led by Kikuyu sub county Maendeleo Ya Wanawake Organization (MYWO) chair Ms Rehab Kehebu, the women said that gender based violence is still rampant in the country.
Reacting to the recent case where a 27 year old woman, Jackline Mwende had her hands allegedly chopped off by the husband in Machakos county, said that many women suffer in silence.
“Many women who are abused by their husbands or boyfriends never speak out,” Ms Nyambura noted, adding that time has come for women to speak out against gender violence.
The women observed that existing laws on gender violence have given leeway to perpetrators of the crimes.
“Most of the people abuse women and girls end walking free,” she observed.
“We are urging the government both at the national and county level to come up stiffer laws that will protect women and girls against being abused,” said Stella Njeri, a counsellor in Kiambu town.
She alleged that perpetrators of gender violence often walk free as a result of poor investigation and prosecution of gender violence cases.
A section of women organizations have condemned the Machakos incident and vowed to spearhead the rights of women across the country.