Activists lead protest in city over femicide cases

The marches follow several high-profile femicide cases, including the gruesome killings of two young women found dismembered in Nairobi short-stay apartments.

In Nairobi, the protest march began at Jevanjee Gardens and made its way through major city streets including Kenyatta Avenue and Uhuru Highway.

Protest leaders demanded that political leaders, including President William Ruto, publicly condemn the femicide cases. They criticised the president's silence on the murders as deafening amidst a nationwide outcry.

"We are calling on our President and public officials to break their silence on this femicide crisis. Their lack of statements speaks volumes," said rights activist Jane Mutua.

"We will no longer normalise the murder of our sisters, daughters, and mothers," said leading activist Ann Wanjiku at the Nairobi march. She pointed to culture change as also being necessary to combat violence against women.

The nationwide demonstrations channelled public outrage over the loss of lives as protest leaders stressed the rallies are the start of a long-term movement for substantive change in protecting Kenyan women and girls.

"Being a woman is not luxury, neither is it a privilege, we're here by right. It's our right to exist as women as female in all our colorful identities. To be in a relationship and say no is not a license to kill, to brutalise, to dehumanise," Okero said.

[Additional reporting by Clinton Ambujo and James Omoro]