This Monster we created called “Diplomatic Immunity” aka "License of Impunity" and IPV Prevalence in Kenya

There is this monster we bore and raised called diplomatic immunity that rears its ugly head many a time. Anytime it comes to play it is when the proverbial sh*t has hit the fan….

Recently I came across a disturbing new article that reported that #UNEP employee Alphonse Kambu based in Nairobi from Papua New Guinea who has been accused of physically assaulting his estranged partner Ruth Gakii on Sunday night at Jacaranda estate, as their three-year-old son looked on.

The United Nations Environmental Program - UNEP has expressed its willingness to assist with investigations into an incident where one of its staffers is accused of assaulting his estranged Kenyan lover and causing her grevious bodily harm. In a statement to newsrooms, the UN body has clarified that its employees are only immune from prosecution in actions or words spoken during the cause of their duty and not personal actions. The statement came even as police launched investigations into the matter, with doctors at the Nairobi Women's hospital revealing that the 26 year old woman identified as Ruth Gakii, is out of danger.

Not every case gets to hit the media’s radar and hopefully something useful and meaningful that ensures that justice here is served swiftly and decisively it also begs the question around the need to have diplomatic immunity if it is sued as a weapon to spread impunity. The statistics in Kenya are startling.

About 45% of women aged 15-49 have experienced either physical or sexual violence in Kenya. So much work is going on to shift this dynamic. For one, critical reforms are needed in Kenya’s public health sector to ensure we have well-paid, sufficiently staffed and well-equipped facilities in every county to bridge the disparity caused prior to devolvement of state functions. Currently the Kenyan health sector is plagued with strikes, go slows and lack basic workable updated equipment. It is also critical that every county have healthcare facilities that are proportionate to the population demographics ensuring that every Kenyan’s constitutional right to quality healthcare is met.

We must also push for heightened advocacy efforts around law reforms to ensure marital rape is not exempted from the Sexual Offences Act. Section 43 (5) , as IPV is very prevalent and insidious in Kenya.

That being said, it is hard to ignore the vile and misogynistic comments and sentiments shared on social media that fault those who fall prey to GBV. When we are talking about gangsters and thieves who prey on things that are not there own is our first sentiment,  “You shouldn’t buy stuff if you know it will get stolen!” We should create an environment that allows us all to have security and freedom to choose where and how we want to live and what we want to buy free of prettying, prying and sticky fingers…. that’s why we have laws! And these laws need to work for us and we need to continue to put pressure on government to ensure that people are safe and those who go against the law are punished swiftly. In the same way when it comes to violence, we cannot start this discourse around ‘what the victim out to have done/worn/said to ‘avoid’ such a violation of their person…. no one has the right to do that diplomatic immunity or not!

I also want to challenge those with the audacity to insinuate that ANYONE is deserving of violence. EVERYBODY has a right to live a life free of violence regardless of who they are.
So many sentiments on social media are down right victim blaming rather than focus on the issue here which is to ensure that justice is served and we are all assured that violence meted out on another will not go unpunished! It is in itself another this kind of violation which is barbaric that only serves to push a lot of people (both men and women) who face similar maltreatment further in the margins as they feel as they did something wrong or are responsible for the violence they are subjected to WHICH THEY ARE NOT!!! The only person who is wrong here is the one who thought he or she could wield power by causing physical, mental harm or threat of it over another. That is the wrong here. Period.

On the other, the push back from Kenyans who see the injustice in such cases and are lobbying and calling for the perpetrators to be held accountable is a good sign that we recognise that GBV has no place in our society and that violence in public or in private is a violation of rights and this must end!