Former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko has intensified his public campaign
against gender-based violence (GBV), warning that rising cases of abuse and
domestic attacks require urgent and coordinated action.
Sonko said he has been inundated with distress calls from survivors and
families across the country, describing the volume of complaints as “alarming
and overwhelming.”
He urged government agencies, civil society organisations, women’s groups
and advocacy networks to unite in combating what he termed a growing national
crisis.
“We will not leave it at that, and the best way is to partner with all
stakeholders in this GBV field,” Sonko said.
“Whether NGOs, women groups or all persons advocating for the rights of our
mothers, we must work together.”
The former governor advised individuals trapped in violent relationships to
prioritise their safety, saying a legal separation is far better than risking
fatal outcomes.
“It is better to have a divorce decree in your house than a eulogy booklet
or death certificate for your daughter or son,” he said.
“Whether you are from a rich or poor family, it doesn’t matter.”
Sonko highlighted a recent case involving young woman, Mumbi Kanyaga, whose
death he said exemplifies the deadly consequences of intimate partner violence.
According to him, Mumbi died after an altercation with her boyfriend in
Nairobi West. She was reportedly attacked by the boyfriend and his friends, and
later pronounced dead in hospital.
Her body is currently at Montezuma Funeral Home in Kabati.
“As we are speaking, they are in Lang’ata Police Station. It’s a murder
case,” Sonko said, calling for justice for the victim and her family.
He appealed to law enforcement, community leaders and the public to
strengthen collaboration to protect women and girls nationwide.
“All stakeholders, the police and everybody, let us partner and work
together to ensure all our mothers—whether young, old, poor or rich—can stand
firm to ensure this GBV thing comes to an end,” he said.
Sonko’s renewed campaign adds to calls for stronger prevention programmes,
faster investigations and more robust support systems for survivors.
It comes just days after he confronted
his son-in-law amid domestic violence allegations after his daughter made a
distressing call to her parents.
In a video
shared on Sonko’s social media, he rushed to his daughter’s home following her
appeal for help.
According to
the clip, the dispute allegedly began innocuously, a simple question about
breakfast, but escalated rapidly into a physical altercation.
In an audio
recording, Sonko’s daughter tells her mother, “I’m not okay… I just asked for
breakfast, and I have been slapped twice. I didn’t have money, and I’ve been
telling him the kids are hungry.”
When Sonko
arrived, he is seen confronting his son-in-law, but he also repeatedly orders
his security team and aides to refrain from violence, making it clear that
retaliation wouldn’t resolve anything.
In a powerful statement, Sonko expressed his heartbreak,
not just as a father, but as someone deeply disturbed by the broader issue of
domestic abuse.
“Today, we received a distress call from our daughter that
shook us to the core, her voice trembling, her spirit broken,” he said.
“As a
parent, nothing prepares you for the moment your child reaches out in fear or
desperation. I acted immediately because no mother or father can sit still when
their child is hurting,” Sonko said.
He used the incident to shine a light on the hidden
suffering many Kenyans endure.
“If my own
daughter can face harassment in her home, what about the countless young women
and men in Kenya who suffer silently, with no one to defend them?” he asked.
Sonko urged
couples to deal with conflict through conversation, not violence.
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