Put same efforts in solving pending LGBTQ killings - activists

LGBTQ activists are calling on the DCI to apply equal efforts in solving past sexual violence cases as they are doing in the case of activist and fashionista Edwin Chiloba.

In a statement on Tuesday, the activists commended the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) for the swift investigations into the gruesome murder.

“The investigations have resulted in a confession, the arrest of five suspects and their arraignment at the Eldoret Law Courts,” they said.

They lauded their efforts in ensuring that perpetrators of the heinous act are brought to justice.

“We call on the DCI and the Judiciary to replicate this determination and enthusiasm to close other pending cases such as Sheila Lumumba’s,” they said.

The 25-year-old Lumumba was killed in 2021, the autopsy determining that she was raped, strangled and stabbed in Karatina, Nyeri County.

The case has yet to be concluded.

“Joash Mosoti, a young gay peer educator was attacked and killed in his Mombasa house, Chriton Atuhwera, a young gay refugee and activist was killed after an arson attack in Kakuma camp," they said.

“Rose Mbesa, a 50-year-old intersex person was raped and killed in 2021 and her lifeless body was dumped on the roadside in Kachibora, Trans Nzoia county, among other deaths."

They said that the laxity in prosecutions of perpetrators of violence against LGBTQ persons goes contrary to the constitution which guarantees protection for all persons, including gender and sexual minorities.

The groups include the Bold Network, the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (NGLHRC), the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya (GALCK+), INEND, Q-Initiative, Amnesty and Change.org.