Hire a lawyer to help in rising GBV cases, Malombe told

Speaking at Nyuani Primary School in Mutonguni Ward, Kitui West, Stella Mengele  regretted that perpetrators of gender based violence collude with clan elders to defeat justice for victims of GBV. "Children get defiled and since their parents are poor,  they are given cows. The clan elders come to decide the cases. Some of our residents are not exposed.  They need someone to run to for assistance", said the founder of Stella Mengele Foundation,  an NGO.

According to the renowned Kamba Gospel artist,  all locals need is only one lawyer to be hired by county gender department for the purposes of handling cases of serious gender violations. 

While acknowledging the challenges ahead, she said residents need to be capacity built on how to report gender based violence cases including processing them until justice is served.

A report by Kenya National Police cited on the Unesco website shows the grim reality of gender based violence cases in Kenya. The study revealed that 40% of women in Kenya have experienced emotional,  physical or psychological intimate partner violence. 30% of women aged between 15-49 have experienced physical violence. 

To worsen the situation,  social and cultural norms aid these injustices as some people believe wives should be beaten under certain circumstances. 

"30% of women and 19% of men believe a husband is justified in beating his wife under certain circumstances", the report reads in part.