Foreign husbands prone to wife battery

By Philip Mwakio

Mombasa  County

Nearly 80 per cent of non-Kenyan men married to Kenyan wives living at the Coast are victims of domestic violence, the Maendeleo Ya Wanaume (Mawa) has said.

Addressing the media at the Mombasa Law Courts yesterday, Mawa Chairman Nderitu Njoka said a recent survey they commissioned indicated most foreigners married to Kenyan wives are victims of gender-based violence.

“They are men married to Kenyan women and have lived in the country for over a decade,” he said.

Njoka also paraded a German national identified as Mathias, who he alleged is victim of constant assault by his Kenyan wife.

Fear Of Reprisals

He said most of victims could not get justice since they do not report the battery for fear of reprisals. In the survey, Mawa claims decades of a nationwide crusade for women’s rights has given rise to violence against men.

“Today, more men are at the centre of violence as women enjoy concrete laws that protect their rights nationally and internationally,” Njoka said.

The organisation claims it carried out the survey between February 2012 to December 2012 in Mombasa, Kwale, Kilifi, Tana River and Malindi.

The report  further says in most of the cases, men are reported to have had little say on issues concerning conjugal rights in their relationships.