Waiguru roots for special police unit to tackle femicide

Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru has called for the formation of a special police unit within the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and other relevant agencies to deal with rising cases of femicide in the country.

While terming femicide as the most extreme manifestation of violence against women, the Governor said a long-term solution to the killings of women and girls must be found, adding that the widely-reported discovery of killings of women across the country are shocking.

Kenya on Monday joined the rest of the world in officially launching the 16 Days of Activism, a global campaign to raise awareness and combat violence against women.

For the first time, the campaign was marked amid rising femicide cases, which have drawn significant attention from the executive.

The event also comes in the wake of a grim UN report revealing that 85,000 women and girls were intentionally killed in 2023.

The report on femicides reveals that 60 per cent of all female homicides are committed by an intimate partner or a family member.