Nairobi — Women Leaders have called for a revival of gender desks at police stations staffed by trained officers who can collect data to prevent femicide cases after Kware serial killer arrest.
The leaders Led by Council of Governors Chairperson Ann Waiguru, said that if gender desks had been operational at different police stations to gather reported information, crimes related to female homicides could have been tracked down earlier after the shocking incident.
Waiguru, also Kirinyaga governor, urged for collaborative efforts from the government to ensure suspects in crimes relating to gender are prosecuted in line with the law and that the relatives of the victims receive the assistance they need.
"It is only through collective efforts that we can identify and bring those responsible for these heinous crimes to justice.As women leaders we call on the government and relevant authorities to provide support and counselling to the families of the victims who are mourning," Waiguru stated.
Echoing Waiguru's sentiments Embu governor Cecily Mbarire promised to advocate for budgetary provisions in the supplemental budget to assist the gender desk program, which aims to reduce gender-related crimes and stop such horrors from occurring in the future.
"We are going to push so that as the supplementary budget comes back to the floor of the house we can make sure there is some money put aside for this kind of information and arrangements so that going forward we can deal with such femicides," said Mbarire.
She emphasized the significance of setting up gender desks at police stations in order to reveal trends in instances involving femicides and missing persons.
"When you have reports of about 10 women disappearing from their families in a period of one month you are able to see a particular trend and start working on it going forward we want to ask the National Police Service to revive the gender desks that we created way back after passing the sexual offences Act," added Mbarire.
On Monday the police arrested Prime Suspect Collins Khalisia in Kayole, Nairobi after being linked to the Kware gruesome murders.
So far the police have recovered 9 bodies from the Kware area which have been transferred to City Mortuary for Post mortem examination.
