End Femicide In Kenya
The death of Wahu Mwangi has been trending across media stations in Kenya. Preliminary reports indicate that she was brutally murdered after facing blackmail and extortion by her alleged lover turned serial killer.
After this news broke, more than ten girls came out to testify that they experienced gruesome torture under the same person that ended the life of Wahu Mwangi.
It took the life of Wahu Mwangi for the voices of victims and survivors of gender-based violence to speak up. This should have been the case.
Up to 69 percent of victims and survivors of gender-based violence in Kenya don't get justice because they do not report these abuses as they don't understand the legal interpretations or processes to follow.
Younger women who have embraced the digital revolution through dating apps to sieve dating partners of their preference in an accelerated manner that is faster than the traditional way of physically meeting up with potential partners are now being attached to a new form of stigma that comes with being name shamed as promiscuous.
It seems even with the onset of the fourth industrial revolution, gender-based violence is equally metamorphosing into online platforms making women and young girls who are the victims and survivors of new forms of online gender-based violence that has resulted in physical harm and extortion guilty and public sconing.
This calls for concerted efforts from the Government ( Ministry of ICT) to speed up policies that can ensure online platforms are safer and offer digital ID verifications that are unique for every user. This will ensure that there are sex predators and other perpetrators of gender-based violence against girls and young women who are using the internet to find lovers, friendship, and companionship are tracked easily.
Equally, Tech companies must innovate Artificial Intelligence tools that can recognize unique digital footprints of users that are faking their online presence like location and even nationality to lure unsuspecting girls and young women into instances of gender-based violence.
The death of Wahu Mwangi should remind more girls and young women to boldly come out and speak up against instances of gender-based violence that resulted from their interactions with paired lovers on online platforms.
Equally, Civil society movements and media stakeholders must assist girls and young women who have faced GBV resulting from their interactions on online platforms to amplify their cry for justice.
Rest In Peace Wahu Mwangi, you died as a digital martyr and your death will remind many of us to fight for a safer online platform for women and girls to interact and socialize.
