By Okong’o Oduya
Busia County, Kenya: Lack of cooperation by the community has been cited as a stumbling block in the war against Sexual and gender-based violence(SGBV) in Busia County.
It is reported that most GBV related victims in the county fail to get justice after witnesses in those cases fail to present themselves in court to testify.
According to the office of the public prosecutor in Busia, many SGBV cases fail to sail through in court for lack of enough evidence from the witnesses who don’t turn up in court, making it difficult to prosecute perpetrators.
In a meeting that brought together different stakeholders in the war against gender-based violence in the county, Zachary Omwenga, an officer from the office of the public prosecutor noted that they are committed to eradicating any form of gender-based violence in the county.
He called for cooperation from all those involved in ending SGBV/GBV in Busia including the National police service, court, NGOs, groups from civil Societies, and the public at large.
“The only thing I will ask the enactors in this county is to ensure that they cooperate with us to process cases which grow to the conclusion. We also need to send a message to those who plan to commit the same crime in the future to know that we are watching them and by doing so we will end this menace,” he said.
“On many occasions, our office has been blamed for failing to deliver justice to the victims, but that is not the case. If the witnesses fail to testify in court, we are left with little to do to prosecute these cases. If the investigations fall short of one or two issues as an office we can’t do much,” he added.
Similarly, Rachel Njoki Nganga a magistrate at Busia law courts assured the GBV victims in the county that as courts they are doing what they can to accord them justice.
She urged all those involved to work together for the common goal without blaming one another.
“I just want to tell people of Busia to have faith in us. We are committed to our task to deliver justice to the victims. This is not the time to start blaming each other. Let us join hands to make sure we end gender-based violence in the county,” she clarified.
Busia county children officer Easther Wasige also called upon society to create forums at homes to address the increasing cases of GBV in the county.
According to her, society is doing little to end the problem by failing to address the issue right from the family level.
“There are people who are going through a lot at home. Let us reach out to them. Can we as stakeholders assist them to move the next step of life,” she urged.
