The physical and physiological violence meted out to female aspirants read like tales from hell. Six months to the August 9, poll, the hopefuls are already crying foul, saying the government is only keen on giving their plight lip service.
Away from the violence they suffer during rallies, the newest form of political battering is on social media.
“Our male competitors are recruiting bloggers and sanctioning demeaning propaganda against their female opponents,” laments Hellen Ngwanirira, who is eyeing the Murang’a senatorial seat.
She is alarmed that social media campaigns have become character assassination platforms against women aspirants.
“When you access those sites and find false news about how you are uneducated, unfaithful to family values and with questionable moral character, it is bound to traumatise,” she says.
Although Interior CS Fred Matiang’i, his PS Karanja Kibicho and Information Technology CS Joe Mucheru have been vocal on the need for sober and lawful political engagements, they are being accused of collective failure to show seriousness in taming bloggers’ poison.
Demeaning
The country has limited online policing mechanisms, leaving Kenyans vulnerable.
Murang’a Woman Rep Sabina Chege, says bloggers should know women are first human before they are political.
“Some of these bloggers are young. Some things they write about politicians their mothers’ age, are demeaning,” she says.
“We hurt but ignore. We have to continue holding our heads high to stage a political contest.”
A female politician from Kajiado County recounts how she recently accessed the Internet and what popped out was a photo of herself with a headline that she had been gang-raped in a maize plantation while drinking alcohol in Murang’a County.
“I have not been to Murang’a for the past six years. I don’t take alcohol and I am yet to experience gang rape. The story was that I had been attacked by a gang of 12 youths who raped me in turns,” she notes, adding that the shock that gripped her was temporary “for I knew it was not possible to deny the story, and making it a legal issue would escalate the fake news”.
She sought advice and instigated the pulling down of the publication.
“Our female legislators have not been vocal on creating laws that punish such nonsense that affects them,” she says.
Taveta MP Naomi Shaban, says her 21 years in politics have exposed her to the dirty tricks opponents employ to kill female aspirants’ dreams.
Bushfire
“The Internet has become the bushfire consuming female politicians’ ambitions. The fake news published are so dehumanising. Many have kept off politics to escape the terror,” she says, adding that administrators of social media platforms should be held culpable.
Kigumo MP aspirant Faith Njoya, citing recent global research, says affirmative action is likely to be realised only in 2068. She says the onus is on the government to find a solution.
“We should not be lied to that some of the sites are run by anonymous people. It is possible to trace them.” She says men tend to enjoy the negative news published against female aspirants.
“Women aspirants need serious commitment from the government that they will be protected against the vice. I have been a victim,” she says, adding that even the mainstream media denying women aspirants fair coverage is a form of political violence.
She says she was a victim in 2001, when she announced her candidature in a by-election.
“Even the media ruled me out of the race by reporting my candidature in a brief story close to obituaries,” she says.
Horror movie
Malindi MP Aisha Jumwa, says her experience would pass for a horror movie.
“Just google and see how even some senior members of political parties have disparaged my name by uploading videos that invoke sexuality chauvinism. I’m hardened and can stand my ground. My worry is the up-and-coming female aspirants,” she says.
“I am gunning for the Embu gubernatorial seat. So intense is the competition that I have to contend with physical and verbal tussles with male competitors,” says Runyenjes MP Cecily Mbarire. She has sued a youth for sending her an offensive text in which he also threatened to kill her.
She dismisses online attacks against female aspirants as machinations from “tongues submerged in pettiness, selfishness, desperation and immaturity”.
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