NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 16 – The government has launched a 90-day nationwide campaign to curb the rising cases of gender-based violence (GBV) and femicide by fast-tracking the implementation of 37 recommendations proposed by the Presidential Taskforce on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide.
Speaking during an interview on Capital FM, Cabinet Secretary for Gender, Culture and Children Services Hanna Cheptumo said the initiative, which is being rolled out across all 47 counties, will focus on violence hotspots in Nairobi and the Central region through a coordinated multi-agency response.
“The issue of gender-based violence, including femicide, is a very serious problem that captured the attention of His Excellency the President,” Cheptumo said.
“The President established the task force that came up with 37 recommendations. The report was processed through Cabinet and has now been released.”
She said the rapid results initiative seeks to move beyond policy discussions by taking interventions directly to communities, with security agencies, prosecutors, the Judiciary, local administrators and child protection officers working together to identify and stop cases before they escalate.
“We said we are not going to sit and just discuss in the offices. We have to go to the ground, speak to watu wa nyumba kumi, have the chiefs involved, have the police involved. We also have children officers at the sub-county level who handle these cases every day,” she said.
Cheptumo said the ministry was working closely with grassroots structures to ensure the recommendations produce measurable results within the 90-day period.
She also challenged Kenyans to reflect on the social factors driving the increase in GBV and femicide, arguing that communities must reclaim values that promote respect and protection of women and children.
“We need to ask ourselves as Kenyans what happened. Why is there a rise in gender-based violence cases, including femicide? Is it because we lost our culture?” she posed.
“As a man you should protect a woman, as a boy you should protect your sister. We must go back and have a conversation and say let’s go back to our culture where we give each other space.”
Cheptumo said available data paints a worrying picture, with 77 per cent of women murdered in Kenya killed by someone they know, often a husband or intimate partner.
She said the majority of victims are women aged between 18 and 35 years, with perpetrators commonly using stabbing, hacking, blunt force trauma and strangulation.
The Cabinet Secretary also revealed that authorities recorded 10,581 child protection cases and 6,820 cases of abandoned children between January 2025 and March 2026.
She appealed to members of the public to report domestic disputes before they turn deadly, saying neighbours, teachers, religious leaders and community policing structures have a critical role to play in preventing violence.
“If you hear people quarrelling in the neighbourhood and you think it is serious, report it. There is no waiting,” she said.
“Because waiting results in femicide. It is a quarrel, a quarrel, and the next minute somebody has been killed.”
Beyond law enforcement, Cheptumo said the government is addressing the economic vulnerabilities that often trap victims in abusive relationships through women and youth empowerment programmes.
She said the government has disbursed Sh27.3 billion through the Women Enterprise Fund, Sh16.6 billion through the National Government Affirmative Action Fund and Sh36.8 billion through the Hustler Fund to support economic empowerment initiatives.
Cheptumo stressed that ending GBV and femicide requires sustained collaboration between government agencies, communities and families, urging Kenyans to break the culture of silence by reporting abuse early.
