Gender CS Nominee Gives Bizarre Response On Femicide During Vetting
On Monday, April 14, Hanna Wendot Cheptumo, the nominee for the Ministry of Gender, made a controversial remark when asked to define femicide, raising questions among some legislators.
During the vetting process by the National Assembly Committee on Appointments, Cheptumo stated that victims of femicide were mostly uneducated women.
She would go on to add that the educated ones are killed or attacked while looking for money.
“Femicide is the intentional killing of women and girls, and it is brought about by dependency. If girls were able to have economic power, they would not depend on either gender,” Cheptumo stated.
Hannah Wendot Cheptumo: Femicide is brought about by dependency. If girls were able to have economic power, they would not depend on either gender. If a woman is educated, chances are that they will avoid some of these challenges in society
— Citizen TV Kenya (@citizentvkenya) April 14, 2025
Moses Wetangula: The girls who have… pic.twitter.com/lH8G1CTWR0
“If a woman is educated, chances are that she will avoid some of these challenges in society.”
According to her, these uneducated people found themselves in such vulnerable positions due to lacking other sources of income.
This did not sit well with some of the panelists, like the committee chair Moses Wetangula.
Wetang’ula stated that the majority of the girls killed in Airbnbs were university students who were plainly educated.
Cheptumo did not back down, explaining that the educated were looking for money.
“They are educated, but those are looking for money. You know a girl has many needs,” she stated.
These remarks irritated Likoni Member of Parliament Mishi Mboko, who raised a point of order despite the CS nominee’s failure to apologize.
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“It is not good to say that those girls are looking for money and that is why they are brutally murdered,” MP Mboko stated.
“We have seen so many other women who have been murdered and not in those circumstances, so it is very wrong to say that those women who have been found butchered, their bodies dismembered and put in a sack, were doing that for money.”
Unfortunately, these comments are not uncommon, as incidences of femicide are frequently blamed on the victims, particularly online.
Who Exactly is Hannah Cheptumo Wendot? What you need to know about the CS nominee of Gender, Culture, the arts and Heritage;
— City Mirror (@citymirrorKE) April 14, 2025
-She was born in 1968 at Koitebes village in Baringo County.
-She was born in a family of seven children, 2 boys and 5 girls.
-She went to Kituro high… pic.twitter.com/VfgkB4JVMc
If accepted, Cheptumo, the widow of the late Baringo Senator William Cheptumo, who died in February, will take over the gender docket, which has been vacant since August 2024.
She is a lawyer by profession and describes herself as a women’s rights advocate.
Gender CS Nominee Gives Bizarre Response On Femicide During Vetting
