Nakuru county has been ranked among counties with the highest prevalence of GBV in Kenya.

The Report of the Technical Working Group on Gender-Based Violence (GBV) which was commissioned by the national government placed Nakuru at the second position after Nairobi and followed by Meru.

It paints a disturbing picture: women are being killed, often by people they know, after long histories of abuse that went unnoticed, unreported, or ignored.

“In the year 2024, out of the total 578 cases, the counties contributing the most cases included Nairobi County, at 54, followed by Nakuru (43), Meru (30), and Kiambu (29),” read the report in part.

In 2023, Nakuru ranked third with 42 cases; this was after Nairobi, which came in first with 53 cases, and Meru following it with 52 cases.
According to the report, most femicide cases in Kenya are perpetrated by intimate partners or individuals known to the victim. These killings are frequently the final stage of prolonged domestic violence, marked by beatings, threats, psychological abuse, and economic control.

In Nakuru, community consultations revealed patterns that mirror this national trend: women trapped in violent relationships, economically dependent on abusive partners, and lacking safe exit options.

“The violence usually starts with insults, slaps, then beatings,” said one community participant quoted in the report. “When nobody intervenes, it escalates.”

For many victims, the home, which should be a place of safety, becomes the most dangerous space.

The report puts the justice system on the spot, citing that it is weakened by under-resourcing, inadequate training, and fragmented coordination, resulting in poor investigations, delayed trials, and low conviction rates for GBV and femicide cases.

In the year 2024, when the cases of femicide were rampant in Nakuru, two cases stood out: that of Eileen Cheruiyot and Vivian Kajaya.

The case of Eileen Cheruiyot perhaps shook many to the core. On July 16, 2024, Mtaa Wangu narrated how the 21-year-old lay on the cold tarmac as she took her last breath after sustaining injuries she had allegedly sustained at the hands of her boyfriend.

The postmortem results revealed a young woman who underwent excruciating pain before she met her untimely end.

It has now been close to two years, and the perpetrator of this heinous crime is yet to be brought to justice.

Mtaa Wangu reached out to the DCI at Kaptembwa, and they said that they were still in pursuit of the main suspect who has been linked to the murder.

When we talk of cold cases, the case of Vivian Kajaya stands out as such.
Two months after the tragic death of Eileen, Vivian Kajaya’s body was discovered in a maize plantation in Kiamunyi.

The death of the 22-year-old left many with very many unanswered questions, the main one being why Vivian had come all the way from Nairobi to Nakuru only to meet her death.

Just like Eileen, Vivian’s case remains unsolved, and no one has been brought to book over her murder.

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Author Spotlight

Bret Sanya