allAfrica.com: Kenya: Violence Against Women Continues (Page 1 of 1)

Following Ann Jones' "The War against Women in Africa" and Marie Claire Faray-kele's "DR Congo: Women - Violence in war and in peace", Awino Okech looks at continuing violence against women in Kenya even as peace returns.

On January 5th 2008, after I successfully managed what I will term as a quick escape from Kisumu one of the hardest hit areas (at the time) with the Kenya's post election crisis; I arrived into a fairly placid Nairobi. The bars were full of people, this in comparison to shut establishments in Kisumu. Middle class Nairobi was mingling as usual! As I ventured into one of these watering holes I was obviously perturbed. What struck me then and continues to date is the fact that this crisis turned everyone into a political pundit. 'We' all have theories, 'we are all close to the source, 'we' all know the latest information and 'we' all know how best to defeat the latest political nemesis. In fact, these very pages of Pambazuka have been awash with analysis from Kenyan and African civil society experts speaking about cabinet sizes and their fiscal implications, comparative analysis of Zimbabwe and Kenya, not to forget analyses of the Kenyan accord, its longevity and projections. However, one thing misses - it is missing from our national discourse, it is missing from our pan African engagement, it is missing from our arm political pundits and we are all quickly dismissed for a focus on the real politik which is more engaging. This is not the 'gender' factor, this is the basic fact that women and children continue to be traded, abused and defiled for the sake of basic commodities such as food and survival in their communities, in the internally displaced people's camps and basically in their country, while we trade theories about the composition of the next cabinet and who is clean and who isn't?

According to the Kenyan Red Cross, as of 27th February 2008, 268,300 people were displaced, while official government statistics place the dead at 1200 as of this same date owing to post election violence. Most of this data remains highly generalized with the oft cited case of the Eldoret church where 35 people were burnt alive, most (my emphasis) being women, as the only case thus far publicized of disaggregated data. The Nairobi Women's Hospital - Gender Recovery Centre (GRC) the only centre of its kind in East and Central Africa provides the following data. Over 80% (356) of the cases that they treated at the centre were sexual violence related. Of these 80%, 93% of them were adult women survivors with the rest accounted for by children and men. 9% were of physical assault, 7% domestic violence related cases and 4 % were of indecent assault .

While efforts were made through various well wishers, donors, local and international organizations to set up crisis centres across the country, what this invariably pointed to was the dearth in systems and structures across the country to respond to cases of sexual and gender based violence in a specialised way. The GRC's report goes on to attempt an analysis of the perpetrators, indicating that most survivors spoke of gang rapes with other cases being opportunistic rape, particularly of women during robberies. Taking cognisance of the inadequacy of facilities and personnel, the numbers and the typologies provided above could potentially be higher and may vary from place to place.

The violence that rocked Kenya in the aftermath of the disputed 2007 presidential elections brought to the fore an already well known phenomena - sexual and gender based violence (SGBV). The violence that was witnessed in the country is not new, what may have been new is the magnitude, intensity and spread. An examination of the 1992 - Molo Clashes, 1997 - Likoni clashes and other land/ethnic clashes (Wagalla massacre et al) that have chequered the history of Kenya, reveal that the site on which these conflicts have been staged has been on women's bodies and their person. In the aftermath of the 1997 clashes, a woman resident at the Maela camp where women were frequently raped by security personnel when they left camp in search for food or for work as day labourers noted: 'even though we knew this was likely to happen we continued to work because our children were hungry and we had no choice' (Amnesty. 2004).

Violence against women is a well acknowledge weapon of war; a tool used to achieve military objectives... many forms of violence that women suffer during armed conflict are gender specific both in result and nature (Amnesty. 2004)'. While this is treated as a fact, energy is often directed towards establishing the perpetrators, financers and sustainers of clashes with little energy or time devoted to the gendered dimensions and repercussions of the conflict and by this we mean the impact of clashes on women. It begs the question - where are our priorities - where is our focus? Where is our focus in Kenya, where is our focus in the continent and where is our focus in the pan African movement?

In 2007, on the eve of national women's day in South Africa Thabo Mbeki fired Nozizwe Madlala- Routledge who was considered one of the few ministers who would turn around the health ministry and specifically repair the damage done by the Mbeki government with its stance on AIDS. In that same year (and on the eve of women's day) two black lesbian activists were murdered (and there have been many) in Soweto, Johannesburg in what was clearly a hate crime. As far as my follow up of the case goes, the perpetrators have not been brought to book. As feminists (I was resident in South Africa at the time) we were all hard pressed to recognise the gains and the need to 'celebrate' women's day but the more defiant amongst us loudly proclaimed there was nothing to celebrate.

Our 'policy explosions' in the continent - sexual offences acts, domestic violence bills and all have had no effect on the lives of the ordinary woman in Khayelitsha, Mathare or Katsina. Operation Murambatzvina came and went. My 'older' feminist sisters will tell you this was/is not the first time in Africa's post independence history when governments have sort to rid their cities of 'filth' and filth here reads not only the informal settlements that Mugabe wanted resettled but unsavoury women. A colleague who travelled home to Harare in the aftermath of this operation was arrested for walking unaccompanied; in Kenyan speak 'she was loitering with the intent to commit ... and the Kenyan police would add their charge' Uganda recently (March 2008) banned a gathering of commercial sex workers arguing that their filth should not be spread to the rest of the country. Well, this is one of the oldest professions in the world. Nigeria is on the verge of passing an indecent dressing bill where necklines must be two inches or less from the shoulders and the waist of a female over 14 must not be visible.

When we loudly call for the prosecution, disarmament and naming of those who committed crimes against humanity during Kenya's post election crisis, I dare say we are much more concerned with those who murdered, than those who are displaced and who are living with the wounds (psychological, physical and otherwise) for having been violated for being a Kenyan and much more specifically for being a woman. We run the risk of indicating that murder was the greatest crime during this crisis. Are we speaking about out survivors of SGBV with the same fervour that we are so concerned about the number of cabinet ministers? As the African continent continues to bludgeon women's human rights (quietly, since we are not paying attention to it) on the sidelines and erode years of African feminist activism (intellectual and otherwise) under the guise of morality and re-instating the moral fibre of the African society, where is the pan African human rights movement that so eloquently analyses the unity of Africa, the solidarity with Zimbabwe and the afro-china partnership?

As I conclude what may be considered a rant and rave by yet another feminist, the final nail to this coffin was driven by one of Kenya's local media attempts at including women's voices to the post election crisis in a programme at 10 o'clock in the night - who is awake at that time to engage with those issues? Where is our focus? Let us engage squarely with the consequences and sites of our political battles, our long term continental and national issues that have consistently been staged on women's bodies and their person. Let us engage with who is most affected by the fact that the rains are delayed or that they are displaced and cannot plant. Let us engage with those who bear the burden of production, reproduction and sheer survival. Let us engage in a much more nuanced and sophisticated analysis of the so called impact of the oversized cabinet, its constitution, the accord, our truth and justice commissions and the existence of our survivors of post election and current violence.

Let us re-focus!

Awino Okech is a feminist activist and researcher currently living Nairobi, Kenya.

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