KHALID: Kenyans must rise before femicide buries our humanity

The silence of mothers mourning children they carried for nine months only for them to be returned home in body bags. The silence of little shoes left at the door after a child is brutally killed. Perhaps the most painful silence of all - the silence of a nation that is becoming numb to the slaughter of its women.

Kenya is in pain. Our women are under attack. Our girls are under attack. Even our babies are no longer safe. How else do we explain the horrifying death of three-year-old Baby Shirley from Tharaka Nithi? A little girl barely old enough to understand the world around her.

A child whose life should have been filled with toys, laughter and innocence. Instead, her decomposing body was found dumped, with both her legs cut off and one of her tiny hands severed. What kind of a monster looks at a three-year-old child and decides to mutilate her body?

As a father, as a man and as a Kenyan, I cannot think about Baby Shirley without my heart sinking. Somewhere, a mother carried that child in her womb, protected her, fed her, loved her and dreamed about her future for three years.

Today, that same mother is left staring at a grave instead of watching her daughter grow. Not long before the horror of Baby Shirley, another devastating case was recorded by VOCAL Africa - that of 11-year-old Gloria, a child who was defiled, murdered and then her body doused with acid. Acid!

Then comes the heartbreaking story of 39year-old Elizabeth Nina who was six months pregnant, carrying life inside her womb. A woman who should have been preparing to welcome a child into the world.

Yet even pregnancy could not protect her from violence. She too was murdered, extinguishing two lives at once - hers and that of her unborn child. These women and girls had names. They had dreams. They had families. They had futures and now all those are gone.

The tragedy is that these are not isolated incidents. They are part of a terrifying wave of femicide sweeping across Kenya. Women are being strangled, stabbed, dumped in bushes, burned, mutilated and murdered with alarming frequency.

Every week brings another painful headline. Another grieving family. Another candlelight vigil. Each week is another promise of investigations that often lead nowhere. How many more women must die before Kenya finally says enough?

Article 29 guarantees every person the right to freedom and security, including protection from violence be it from private or public sources.

Yet for millions of Kenyan women and girls, that constitutional promise means nothing when they cannot safely walk home, safely leave relationships or safely exist without fear of becoming targets.

The first and biggest blame must go to the police. For years, women have been murdered threatened, abused, stalked and violated only for nothing to be done by police. Many families of victims of femicide to date keep crying for justice.

In some cases, warning signs were visible and reported to the police but no action was taken until the victims ended up dead. This is failure. The duty of the police is not merely to collect bodies after murder.

Their duty is to prevent violence before lives are lost. Kenyan women do not need police sympathy after death. They need protection while they are still alive. How many femicide cases and threats must be reported before the police take serious action?

Secondly, we must also speak honestly as men. The painful truth is that in most cases, the perpetrators are men. Husbands. Boyfriends. Ex-partners. Male relatives. Friends. Neighbours. Men must stop brutalising women. No disagreement justifies violence. No desire justifies death. No heartbreak justifies murder. Walking away is always an option. Seeking help is also an option. Harming women should never be an option.

We must teach boys that masculinity is not domination or violence. Real manhood is kindness, restraint and protection. Men must remember one important truth - the women we are killing are the same beings who gave birth to us. To brutalise women is therefore not only cruel, it is shameful and deeply inhuman.

Thirdly, society too must carry responsibility. Too often, communities ignore abuse. Too often, neighbours hear screams and choose silence. Too often, domestic violence is dismissed as a “private matter” until someone is killed. Too often, victims are blamed instead of protected.

Our silence is feeding this crisis. We cannot continue living in a country where women constantly fear becoming the next victim. We cannot normalise girls disappearing. We cannot normalise mutilated bodies. We cannot normalise mothers crying over coffins of children.

All the above should disturb every Kenyan regardless of tribe, religion, gender or political affiliation. The time has now come for Kenya to rise up collectively and decisively against femicide.

The government must declare femicide a national crisis. Police officers who fail to arrest perpetrators and murderers or ignore threats against women, must be held personally accountable. Investigations must be swift and professional and violators arrested immediately.

Courts must ensure killers and rapists face severe punishment. Communities must become protectors instead of silent spectators. Most importantly, justice must be secured for every woman and every girl whose life has been stolen.

If we cannot protect our mothers, wives, sisters and daughters, then we are slowly losing our humanity as a nation and history will judge us harshly for our silence.