The appointment of Hanna Wendot Cheptumo as the incoming Cabinet Secretary for the Ministry of Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs sparked a great deal of ire in women’s spaces in the last week. This followed her comments while being interviewed for the position when she implied that a leading reason behind femicide was young women’s greed for money.
Ms Cheptumo sparked outrage for blaming the victims, particularly at a time when femicide is at an all-time high, and when research points that majority of the cases occur at home. Contrary to the idea that Cheptumo and like-minded people are trying to push, femicide, like sexual violence, is perpetrated more by loved ones; husbands and boyfriends, jilted lovers, and male relatives, than complete strangers.
Indeed, that Cheptumo made comments that were so aligned to patriarchal grandstanding would automatically make her unqualified for the job. The Gender office at the Ministry of Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs, like all other legislation and public bodies addressing the gender and women question, serves to fill in a very specific gap and undo centuries of patriarchal domination over women and girls.
Specifically, the ministry aims to ensure that gender mainstreaming and policy are key features in the work of government so as to ensure adequate representation across sectors. It therefore behooves Parliament to nominate a person who not only aligns with these ideals but also understands the reasoning behind it, rather than reproducing the archaic ideology that has historically excluded women.
If anything, by hiring a person who, even before assuming office, has received overwhelmingly negative reactions to her appointment due to a lack of expertise, Parliament is reinforcing misogynistic ideals even further.
It is common knowledge that the President promised Cheptumo a job during the funeral of her husband, the late Baringo Senator William Cheptumo. Since the promulgation of the 2010 Constitution, women have faced backlash for their assumption of public office, with many Senator people arguing that they are not competent to fill these positions.
Any error committed by a woman in public office is met with the reaction that women simply are not suited for the positions that they hold, even though men behave exceedingly worse, without anyone batting an eyelid.
The position of Women Rep, compared to any other, gets the most heat, with many calling for its dissolution as the Women Reps are seen as being utterly useless. Parliament, by giving a position that was promised at a funeral, fuels the fire that women are incompetent. Cheptumo already has a target on her back from her interview, and those calling for the complete removal of women from public offices will be watching her closely.
In light of all this, it is ultimately a slap in the face of women to have Parliament pass the nomination and then performatively ask that Cheptumo apologises for the remarks that she made regarding femicide.
Her comments should have been factored in for her qualification, rather than being set aside as a matter to be addressed once she is sworn into office. The entire charade makes the nomination appear inevitable, and the interview inauthentic.
Luckily for the nation, all is not lost as women’s organisations, influencers, and cosmetics companies are currently working collaboratively, pushing for femicide to be classified as an individual crime with its own unique set of characteristics, intent and motive, separate from those of homicide.
Although the Supreme Court recently threw a spanner in the works by ruling that battered-woman-syndrome can only be used as a mitigating factor rather than a defence for murder, there is still room to steer the law in the right direction and prioritise the protection of women as a minoritised class. Hopefully the new Gender CS will be at the forefront of this clarion call.
Ms Gitahi is an international lawyer
