Thousands of people have gathered to protest in Kenyan cities and towns against the recent murders of more than a dozen women.
Saturday's anti-femicide demonstration was the largest event ever held in the country against sexual and gender violence.
In the capital, Nairobi, protesters wore T-shirts printed with the names of women who were murdered this month. The crowd, made up mostly of women, brought traffic to a standstill.
“Stop killing us!” protesters shouted while waving signs with messages such as “There is no justification for killing women.”
The crowd in Nairobi was hostile to attempts by parliamentary women's representative Esther Passaris to address them. Accusing Passaris of remaining silent during the latest wave of killings, protesters shouted down her with chants of “Where were you?” And go home!”
“A country is not judged by how well it treats its rich, but by how well it cares for the weak and vulnerable,” said Kenya Law Society president Eric Theuri, who was among the protesters.
Kenyan media have reported the murder of at least 14 women since the beginning of the year, according to Patricia Andago, a data journalist at the investigative and media firm Odipo Dev, who also participated in the march.
Odipo Dev reported this week that news showed that at least 500 women were killed in acts of femicide between January 2016 and December 2023. Many more cases go unreported, Andago said.
Two cases that hit Kenya this month involved two women who were murdered in Airbnb accommodations. The second victim was a university student who was dismembered and decapitated after she was reportedly kidnapped for ransom.
Theuri said gender-based violence cases take too long to be heard in Kenyan courts, which she believes emboldens perpetrators to commit crimes against women.
“Right now we are missing about 100 judges. We are short 200 magistrates and judges, which means that the wheel of justice turns slowly due to inadequate provision of resources,” he stated.
