This archive report was first published on 26 October 2019.
Published on October 26, 2019, by Gladys Burini, a renowned author, this article highlights the prevalence of domestic violence in Kenya despite having robust laws to protect citizens.
Kenya has an extensive list of laws that cover and protect citizens from various forms of domestic violence, including incest, damage to property, economic abuse, interference from in-laws, sexual violence within marriage, and more.
However, despite these laws, news cycles continue to report cases of husbands being physically abused, in-laws engaging in widow cleansing, and children being defiled.
The question remains: is it a lack of knowledge about these laws, a lack of reverence for the law, or a lack of empathy for the harm being subjected to the victim?
Moreover, the law also considers it an offence to put a child at risk of seeing or hearing physical, sexual, or psychological abuse of a person they have a domestic relationship with.
Children often attest to domestic violence, yet there is hardly any deterrence against it, with a fine of Sh50,000 or imprisonment for a term of three years being insufficient to prevent such acts.
One explanation for this is the constant witnessing of verbal abuse hurled by and at politicians in the media, which has become a norm in Kenyan society.
Our leaders have set a stellar example by physically abusing and intimidating each other, both of which are domestic violence acts.
It is no wonder that the same appalling behaviour is entrenched in families, with a husband throttling his wife without fear of the law.
As citizens, we are in a close relationship with politicians, who have significant influence in our lives.
However, this domestic relationship has suffered forms of physical and psychological domestic violence, just like the child the law seeks to protect.
It is thus hypocritical of politicians to make pledges and statements rebuking parents, spouses, or relatives who have been accused of domestic violence.
Having set this precedent, can a victim expect much from the police when reporting a threat or act of domestic violence?
These acts are embedded in our psyche as normal everyday quirks of being a Kenyan, dismissed as minor issues rather than being processed expediently and effectively.
It is thus no surprise that victims often end up feeling defeated to make a case and protect themselves from their abuser.
Therefore, if we are going to get rid of domestic violence in all its forms, we have to start from the State organs.
Just as the law seeks a protection order, leaders should be equally mandated to stop their domestic violence, be it through entering and remaining in our land, damaging our State property, or economically abusing us.
