CS Cheptumo calls for coordinated fight against rising GBV in Baringo

Gender, Culture and Children Services CS Hanna Cheptumo addressing medics from Baringo County Referral Hospital when she presided over the commissioning of the GBV recovery centre on February 14, 2026.

The Cabinet Secretary for Gender, Culture and Children Services, Hanna Cheptumo, has called for concerted efforts from all actors to address the alarming rate of gender-based violence in Baringo county.

Cheptumo made the call when she presided over the commissioning of a GBV recovery centre at Baringo County Referral Hospital in Kabarnet, where she noted with concern a troubling trend in the county, citing increased cases of defilement, rape, femicide and teenage pregnancies.

The CS was referring to a report from the Presidential Technical Working Group on GBV, which indicated that 37.9 per cent of women aged 15 to 49 had experienced physical violence, while 41 cases of rape and 18 cases of femicide were recorded in 2023 alone.

Cheptumo, accompanied by Baringo Governor Benjamin Cheboi, among other officials, was also briefed that 32 girls in Baringo Central subcounty had experienced teenage pregnancies.

According to the CS, the report is placing the once cultured county in a very bad state, and it is high time all actors retreated in order to cushion the vulnerable population.

“These are not just figures; they represent daughters whose futures were cut short, mothers whose lives were taken, children robbed of their innocence and families left in anguish,” she said.

Cheptumo, while opening the one-stop centre to support survivors in receiving medical care, forensic analysis, psychosocial counselling and legal representation, called for strengthened coordination between health facilities, police, the judiciary, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, children services and community-based structures.

The CS, who earlier led a five-kilometre charity walk in support of Kabarnet School for Deafblind Children, urged parents, teachers, religious leaders and community influencers to speak boldly against harmful practices that erode social cohesion and development in society.

Cheboi acknowledged the challenge, which he said is an eye-opener to his administration to shift focus from medical treatment to investing in psychosocial counsellors who attend to survivors of GBV.

He added that his administration, apart from putting in place adequate mechanisms to support such recovery centres across the county, will work hand in hand with multi-sectoral agencies to arrest the situation.