Kenyan Men Threatened With Guns, Knives by Spouses

According to the National Crime Research Centre, 23.5% of interviewed men had been threatened with a gun or a knife by intimate partners compared to 14.3% of women under the same threat.

In explaining the pattern, NCRC said, “Men use their muscular strength to commit Gender Based Violence (GBV) while women compensate their muscular limitations with threats.

In a report on (GBV), launched Friday, NCRC notes that Busia County has the highest lifetime experiences of GBV at 54.9% compared to Meru, which has the lowest prevalence of this violence inflicted by intimate partners.

The report further identifies wife and husband battery as the most prevalent form of Gender Based Violence, with 74.1% of females and 68% of men having been beaten up. And if the findings of the report are anything to go with, then Mombasa and Machakos top the list of battering at 97.7% and 95.2% respectively.

The research, which sampled 13 out of the 47 counties, further reveals an interesting trend on just how intimate partners are quick at laying their hands on each other.

While giving a presentation of the survey, Stephen Muteti, Principal Researcher at NCRC said, “In the last 12 months before the survey, 62.2% females and 47.1% men were slapped by an intimate partner.”

The research narrowed on 819 respondents, comprising of 656 women and 163 men.

By Ken Aseka