Kenyan women’s groups demand action against femicide after death of athlete

The 33-year-old long-distance runner from Uganda, who recently competed in the Paris Olympics and was the mother of two young daughters, was the third athlete to be killed in Kenya since 2021.

“This is femicide,” Njeri Migwi, founder of Usikimye, an organization fighting gender-based violence, posted on X after Cheptegei’s death.

“First of all, the government has to take a stand,” she told AFP on Wednesday, “because the government is not really doing anything about it.”

“Most of this violence, gender-based violence, is not considered a crime,” she added.

“The patriarchal attitudes we have in this country are abhorrent.”

She said the tense situation becomes even worse when women become the main breadwinners and often have to support their nuclear and extended families, as in the case of Cheptegei.

“When you look at it, it’s financial violence.”

Statistics on the number of victims of gender-based violence in Kenya vary widely, which activists say obscures the true extent of the problem.

In 2022, 725 women were killed in gender-related killings in Kenya, the highest number since 2015, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

According to Femicide Count Kenya, which draws data from local media, 152 women were killed in 2023.

“This shocking figure represents only the cases reported in the media – the actual number is likely much higher,” the organization said on its website.

The Africa Data Hub, in collaboration with data science firm Odipodev and Africa Uncensored, estimates that more than 500 women were murdered between 2016 and 2023.

Thousands of women protested in the capital Nairobi earlier this year and human rights groups called on the government to classify the deaths as a “national disaster”.

Cheptegei’s murder was followed by the murder of two well-known Kenyan athletes.

In October 2021, 25-year-old Kenyan record-holding runner Agnes Tirop was stabbed to death in her home in the famous Rift Valley running center Iten.

Her estranged husband is on trial for her murder and denies the charges.

In April 2022, Kenyan-born Bahraini athlete Damaris Mutua was also found dead in Iten in an alleged domestic violence incident.

Tirop’s Angels, a group founded after her death to combat gender-based violence, said Cheptegei’s death was “a painful echo of the tragedy” that led to the creation of their organization.

“The shadow of this ongoing violence cannot be ignored,” said a post on Instagram.

“We call on the public, sports associations and the government to work together to take meaningful steps to protect women and girls and ensure that more lives are not lost.”

Harriet Chiggai, women’s rights adviser to Kenyan President William Ruto, said Cheptegei was another victim of the “perpetual silent pandemic” of domestic violence.

She said about 34 percent of all Kenyan women aged 15 and over have been victims of sexual or other physical assault, calling it an “ugly phenomenon.”

Her office, Chiggai said, is working with the Ministry of Sports on mechanisms to prevent, report and respond to gender-based violence in sport.

FIDA-Kenya, a women’s legal aid organization, expressed deep sadness at the events.

“It is time to hold the perpetrators accountable and demand action to prevent further tragedies,” X said.

“This has to stop,” says Valerie Aura, an activist and leader of the Nguvu collective. She is calling on the government to set up safe houses for women fleeing violence.

“We are seeing this happening again because there are no harsh punishments for the perpetrators,” she told AFP.

“We need to hear the government declare femicide a crisis,” she said.

“Why is the government silent? Why is it not doing anything? Why are women not being protected?”

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