This is as she offered her condolences to the family of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games athlete who was brutally attacked and subsequently succumbed to her injuries
President William Ruto’s Advisor on Women’s Rights, Harriette Chiggai, announced on Thursday, September 9 that her office together with the Ministry of Sports is working towards highlighting Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in sports following the attack that led to the death of Ugandan athlete Rebecca Cheptegei.
This is as she offered her condolences to the family of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games athlete who was brutally attacked and subsequently succumbed to her injuries following hospitalization at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret earlier on Thursday.
“Ms. Cheptegel was a talented and inspirational athlete who did not deserve to be taken away from her family, including her two young daughters, because of a domestic dispute.
“She was a rising star who competed in the recently concluded Olympics at age 33,” Chiggai said in a statement.
Presidential Advisor on Women’s Rights, Harriette Chiggai speaking during the inaugural East Africa Law Society Young Lawyers Convention 2024 on August 30, 2024. /HARRIETTE CHIGGAI
The women’s advisor lamented that the athlete succumbed to her injuries like many other women who pass through the ever-silent pandemic of intimate partner violence, a matter she noted that even though it occurs in the confines of the home, it is difficult to track and also report.
“Despite the work of local and State Agencies to better educate and protect women from serialized Gender-Based Violence (GBV), instances of intimate partner violence continue to be underreported in Kenya. Ms Cheptegei is sadly the latest of women athletes who have been killed by their significant others or former partners. The list includes Agnes Tirop (2021) and Damaris Mutua (2022),” she continued.
Chiggai also revealed that the phenomenon, not only afflicts female athletes, but also ordinary Kenyan women and children living in hazardous and volatile domestic environments.
With approximately 34 percent of Kenyan women experiencing physical and or sexual violence from the tender age of 15 years, she recognized that the general society needs to do better to protect women and girls.
“This Office together with the Ministry of Youth Affairs, Creative Economy and Sports is working towards spotlighting GBV in sports and creating mechanisms for prevention, reporting and responding on the vice,” she announced.
Chiggai went on to urge the relevant law enforcement and legal officers to ensure that justice is served to the families of Cheptegei as well as Agnes Tirop, Damaris Mutua and other victims of GBV.
She reiterated that violence against women and girls in any form, is an assault on their rights and freedom.
“The Government remains committed to ending all forms of CBV by creating systemic change across all duty-bearers. It is our prayer that Almighty God will provide comfort and peace to the family of Ms. Cheptegel In this difficult and emotional period,” she added.
Cheptegei died after she was set on fire by her lover, a footballer. Owen Menach, the head of Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, revealed that the burns she suffered were so severe that all her organs failed, leading to her death.
