Stakeholders in Kilifi County have begun conducting community dialogue in Magarini after a woman was brutally murdered by her boyfriend in Kwandomo area last week.

The 25-year-old woman, a palm wine (Mnazi) seller, only identified as Malkia was found dead at around 6.00 am in his boyfriend’s rental room at Kwa Ndomo village.

Reports indicate that the deceased was a mother of three and was staying with her boyfriend (only identified as Josephat) from Mpeketoni, Lamu County, since October 2023.

Touched by the brutal murder, stakeholders who are campaigning against Gender-Based Violence through the support of the Kenya Red Cross Society, working together with National and County governments, initiated dialogues to get to understand the root cause of the problem and probably find a solution.

What causes brutal killings?

During the dialogue held at Kwandomo, it emerged that apart from love triangle cases, there are also cases of defilement, incest, and brutal killings of elders.

Men were blamed for the increased cases of domestic violence at home and local elders attributed it to lack of sharing the challenges men go through.

Emmanuel Mweni, a village elder from Kwa Ndomo, condemned the brutal killing of the woman terming it as wrong as the matter would have been resolved had the parties reported to the authorities from the grassroots level.

He said this was not the first time he had witnessed such a killing saying just recently a man was hacked to death after a conflict with family members.

Further Mweni said a man also reportedly defiled his daughter and then fled his family for fear of being reprimanded.

“There is a woman who was killed by her lover reason being the husband was against her selling palm wine as she was returning late at night daily, the man was not happy about it that’s what led him to brutally murder her,” he said.

Local administrators’ vital role

Mweni said as village elders recognized by the Government, their work is to advise the community from the family level including such conflicts and advised both men and women facing similar challenges not to remain silent and commit such acts.

He said the insecurity incidents and domestic violence had caused tension in the area as families feel insecure.

“As a village elder I am so bitter about these incidents because there is a way that we can resolve such problems, among families and even man and his wife,” he said.

Mweni said this year alone there have been two cases of parents defiling their kids and are people well known to him.

Pola Katana, a Community Health Promoter (CHP) from Sabaki area within Magarini sub-county, said they were against the GBV cases against women in their area.

She said they used to only hear on Radio and television about people being hacked to death due to domestic violence. Still, the recent incident of a woman who was hacked by her spouse shocked the entire locality.

“As CHPs from Sabaki we are against such unlawful acts against women if there are family differences the best solution is dialogue to resolve instead of opting for violence which could lead to murder,” she said.

She said the woman murdered left behind small children who will suffer because of the brutal act of the lover.

Ending GBV in Magarini

To her, women are the ones bearing the full brunt of domestic violence as men have relaxed leaving huge responsibilities to their wives.

Helda Lameck, the Chairperson of the Malindi Gender Based Violence (GBV) Network, thanked the Kenya Red Cross Society for organizing the community dialogues in the entire Magarini Sub County to help seek solutions to the GBV cases.

She said they engaged women, youth and elders on the challenges of domestic violence following the rise in cases of incest, rape, defilement and now the recent killing of a woman by her lover.

“We used to see cases of women killed by their husbands on Television but never thought they would reach our locality here in Kwandomo so the other day we got reports of a woman who was hacked to death by her lover that’s why we thought it better to bring the community together and initiate dialogue to know the root cause of the violence and help bring the cases to an end,” she said.

She added: “I would advise girls and young women to seek advice from older women to know how to survive in marriages as there is an increase in cases of family breakups,” she said.