A call to arm Kenya's women candidates with more than speeches

Last Friday, Margaret Wanjiru -- a parliamentary candidate in Kenya's Dec. 27 general elections -- was reportedly attacked while campaigning in her Starehe constituency in the capital, Nairobi. While she escaped injury, her supporters are said to have been hurt and her campaign van extensively damaged by stoning…Still, those targeted in this incident were probably luckier than Martha Kibwana. Less than a week earlier (Dec. 9) this local council aspirant in the coastal constituency of Taveta had been attacked at her gate and left for dead, with deep cuts to the face and neck. Last month, a woman legislative candidate in Lugari, western Kenya, was shot dead in Nairobi. Although police said Alice Onduto's killing was not politically motivated, nothing was stolen from her. At beginning of September, reports indicated that Flora Igoki, who is contesting a parliamentary seat in Meru, east of Nairobi, was beaten. She sustained serious injuries during the attack, and was put in a neck brace. And in yet another incident, the Republican Liberty Party's legislative candidate for Eldoret North in Kenya's western Rift Valley, Cherop Priscilla Rutoo, is said to have been prevented from addressing a political rally last month by youths who threatened to beat her up if she insisted on going ahead. These are just some examples of attacks on women politicians that have been reported over recent weeks and months. In addition to physical assault and intimidation, there has apparently even been an instance of a female candidate's child being kidnapped for political ends. Violence on the campaign trail is nothing new in Kenya, and is certainly not restricted to women in the current electoral race, in which ethnic tensions are running high, and several persons are said to have lost their lives. Nonetheless, there appears reason for particular concern as regards the spate of attacks against women contesting next week's polls. "Before the party primaries there was more psychological violence against women aspirants such as death and rape threats and sexual harassment, but now the violence has turned physical and it is alarmingly escalating," Joshua Changwony, co-ordinator of the Electoral Gender and Violence Helpdesk, told IPS. Set up in October by the Education Centre for Women in Democracy, a non-governmental organization (NGO) in Nairobi, the desk has handled 153 cases of electoral violence against women and received 258 reports of cases through telephone calls, text messages and e-mails. Kepta Ombati, chief executive officer of Youth Agenda, an NGO involved in youth leadership and human rights, has observed a similar trend at work. "During previous elections we witnessed more hate speeches against women candidates than physical violence. Now the latter has become more the order of the day," he told IPS. "Parliament has become more attractive because of the hefty pay MPs (members of parliament) receive. So it is now more competitive and using dirty tricks has become the norm. Since women are easy targets for cowardly men, they will be violated." Noted Nazlin Umar, the sole female presidential candidate, "All women candidates feel threatened. When a case of violence against a woman is reported, we women on the ground think we are next… I think if the government assigned all women candidates with guns at least up to (the) end of January, we will at least have an item to protect ourselves when we face danger." Umar has received death threats, and was even frog marched from a meeting by rowdy supporters of her opponent in Kisumu, a town in western Kenya, a few months ago. "It was scary. I was lucky because some other people intervened and walked me away from the danger and called the police, who came immediately to my rescue," she told IPS. Approximately 14 million voters are expected to cast ballots in an election dominated by the race for the presidency, with head of state Mwai Kibaki (running on the Party of National Unity's ticket) locked in close contest with the Orange Democratic Movement's Raila Odinga. In addition to the presidency, 210 parliamentary seats and approximately 2,500 local council posts will be contested. For some, the attacks against women show how elusive gender equality remains in this East African country. "Violence against women is a symptom of a much bigger problem by some men who are still steeped in the patriarchal world of their great grandfathers, in spite of all the advancements our society has made," said Njoki Wainaina, political analyst and founder of the African Women Development Communication Network (FEMNET), a donor-funded grouping that -- among other objectives -- tries to have programs for women informed by an exchange of experiences between NGOs and other groups. Women have become "a real threat to the patriarchal power system" and their male opponents will use every trick in the book against them, she told IPS. But, Njoki did not let women off the hook for the current situation. "Women are also to blame for the violence because they are the gatekeepers of patriarchy, because whether educated or not they have different standards for their sons and husbands (than for) their daughters…How do you start telling a boy whose mother trained him only disrespect for girls to honor women in adulthood?" In the face of violence, certain women candidates are pressing ahead. Speaking to the media from her hospital bed in Nairobi, where she was flown for treatment, Kibwana urged voters not to give up on her. For her part, Wanjiru -- who is also a bishop in the Jesus is Alive Ministries in Nairobi -- told her opponents through the press: "We are taking this seat for Jesus…no amount of intimidation will stop me from doing this work." Umar's advice to women candidates is that they stand their ground when faced with violence. "My appeal to every woman who has faced violence is to stand up and know they are strong, and the opponent fears that she has what it takes to uproot him." "Remember," she added, "the ground has changed and Kenyans are now more receptive and friendly to women. That is why the men are threatened and they want to intimidate you to give up. Never give in to this trick."