NCIC on the spot over hate speech targeting women leaders

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**Police block home of Naivasha MP Jane Kihara in Maraigushu, Naivasha to stop her from meeting her supporters.** [Antony Gitonga, Standard]

The National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) is in the spot over its inactivity as cases of hate speech and abuses against women leaders went a notch higher.

According to the Women's Political Alliance, sexual abuse and the use of derogatory language against women in political leadership were on the rise and risked alienating women in the political arena if not contained.

Beatrice Kamau, a champion of women's leadership, noted that NCIC must exercise its constitutional mandate and bring the perpetrators of such utterances to book to face legal action.

Kamau, who led a delegation to Naivasha MP Jayne Kihara at her Maraigushu home, took the case against former CS Moses Kuria and current Kimilili MP Dismus Barasa for their sexual utterances against women in politics.

"NCIC must take decisive actions against leaders using derogatory, demeaning, and sexual utterances against women in political leadership, more so as the country gears up for the 2027 general elections", said Kamau.

She called on women not to be cowed by men in politics but rather exercise their political rights by vying for various seats to achieve a 50 per cent leadership stake.

Kamau sympathised with Kihara following last year's auction of her over 130 goats to cater for damages awarded by the courts in an election petition case filed by former Naivasha MP John Mututho.

She called for a change in the auction policy, which she noted had left many families devastated as auctioneers wiped out their earnings, which she said had often been politicized.

She termed actions by Mututho as cowardly and against Kikuyu customary laws to auction livestock and properties of the widowed.

On her part, MP Jayne Kihara said the move to auction her properties had been politicised and had been pushed by the government system against her seeming appeal on the case.

Kihara had been ordered by the courts to pay off damages worth a million shillings to Mututho after she lost her 2007 election petition to the former MP.

According to Bishop Paul Gichuhi, the courts should ensure that justice was served to all persons in the society noting that past cases involving politicians had been politicized.

Gichuhi, who oversees the Kedong' Legacy International Church, called for reinforced peace as the country prepares for the 2027 general elections, while calling for the protection of women in leadership against abuses and derogatory utterances.