With 16 Utumishi Girls Academy students dead and 74 injured, the nation reels from another horrific tragic incident. As feminists are forced to organize another public memorial this coming Madaraka Day, what would it take to keep all Kenya’s women and children safe?
If there is one thread that runs through the first quarter of 2026, it is that accountability is no longer a distant promise. It is being demanded, delivered, and defended.
In April 2026, Davine Kwamboka, a mother of two in Migori County, was brutally killed, with CCTV later revealing her husband and two men attempting to dispose of her body. Her case is not isolated but part of a disturbing pattern of femicide marked by violence, silence, and grief. Anita’s killing in Nakuru, murdered by her husband, a Kenya Defense Forces soldier, in front of their young child, mirrors the same reality. These are not just individual tragedies, but stark reminders of a systemic failure to protect women before their lives are reduced to statistics.
As of the 2019 national census in Kenya, over 900,000 Kenyans lived with a disability, representing 2.2% of the general population. According to the United Nations Population Fund in Kenya (UNFPA), mobility-related disabilities account for about 42% of this total. In comparison, visual-related disabilities account for 36.4%, cognitive disabilities for 23.2%, and hearing-related disabilities for 16.7%. It is also noted that more than 80% of persons with disabilities live in rural areas. These Persons with disabilities continue to face a myriad of challenges living their day-to-day lives, with children missing school, parents can’t access opportunities, and the elderly remain confined to their homes, simply because assistive devices seem to be a luxury rather than a necessity.
Nairobi, 10 March 2026: Over 900 Kenyans, persons with disabilities, advocates, and allies within the broader disability inclusion movement, have today called on the Social Health Authority (SHA) to review its benefits package to include assistive devices. As it stands today, the current SHA cover does not provide comprehensive coverage for assistive devices such as prosthetic limbs, orthotics, wheelchairs, hearing aids, crutches, and other essential mobility and rehabilitation products. This exclusion places an unbearable financial burden on persons with disabilities and their families.As the Authority approaches the mandatory two-year review of its benefits package, we urge the Social Health Authority and the Ministry of Health to give serious consideration to this petition and the voices behind it, and to use this review process as an opportunity to address a structural barrier that deepens inequality and entrenches poverty.
Hon. Hanna Cheptumo,
The phrase “family values” has been the subject of vexed and emotive debates in Kenya, Africa, and globally. A curious inquiry into its origins reveals a nexus among moral standards, social structural order, religious beliefs, and economics. A scan of its evolution in the twentieth century depicts individuals and groups rushing to rectify the deterioration of morals, aiming for an ideal they imagined: the nuclear family.
After months of seemingly endless waiting, the Gender‑Based Violence Technical Working Group’s report has finally reached the Presidency. What exactly have they proposed, and how do we ensure those recommendations translate into real action?
Diana Russell, a pioneer researcher on violence against women, is credited as having popularized the use of the term ‘femicide’ to describe the killing of women because of their gender. She used the term publicly when she testified on the crimes against women during the first International Tribunal on Crimes Against Women held in Belgium in 1976. In a 2022 report, UN Women and UNODC estimated that in 2023, Africa had over 20,000 women killed by their partners. The Initiative for Strategic Litigation (ISLA) is trying to hold states accountable for failure to tackle this crime and is advocating for the inclusion of femicide as a crime within African legal systems.
The recent release of the Aga Khan University’s study on femicide related media coverage in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda re-ignited a sense of personal urgency. Shockingly, the Gender-Based Violence Technical Working Group Report remains shelved in the Office of the Deputy President. How can we leverage these findings to reignite public and policy momentum to ensure meaningful action?
Online Predators is a powerful, visually engaging resource designed to raise awareness and empower children and caregivers to stay safe from the growing dangers of online luring, child abduction, and trafficking.
Nairobi, 19 May 2025: Amnesty International is shocked to read the response of the Kenyan Ambassador to Saudia Arabia Mohammed Ruwange to our 12 May 2025 report Saudi Arabia: Locked in, left out: The hidden lives of Kenyan domestic workers in Saudi Arabia.