- Title: KENYA: "Sex boycott" protest by women against poor leadership in Kenya
- Date: 1st May 2009
- Summary: NAIROBI, KENYA (APRIL 30, 2009) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF NEWSPAPERS ON SALE NEWSPAPER HEADLINE READING "WOMEN NOW TURN THE HEAT ON POLITICIANS" HEADLINE READING, "WOMEN DECLARE SEX BOYCOTT OVER REFORMS AND WRANGLING" HEADLINE READING, "THE NEXT BIG BATTLE" HEADLINE READING, "NO REFORMS, NO SEX. ALSO THERE SHOULD BE A) NO WRANGLING IN GOVERNMENT B) PRINCIPALS MUST TAKE CHARGE"
- Embargoed: 16th May 2009 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Kenya
- Country: Kenya
- Topics: Domestic Politics,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
- Reuters ID: LVABJD4AP50QJ7TUH9SEVDXBXETS
- Story Text: Women's rights groups in Kenya call for a week-long sex boycott to protest poor governance in the country.
Underlining local anger over governance in Kenya, a group of 10 non-governmental organisations have urged women across the nation -- including the wives of politicians -- to go on a "sex boycott" for the next week in protest at poor leadership.
The group issued a call to women across the nation to boycott sex with their husbands and male companions along with a statement calling for reforms in government and action on promoting women's rights, causing an uproar in the country.
Carol Agengo of the group, G10, said on Thursday (April 30) that the boycott was a tool to create awareness that the country's leaders had to take control and lead the country to "its desired destiny".
"Now that we have the attention of the Kenyan populace, we are now going to address the issues that plague this nation, the issues that make me not sleep at night, you know... and the issues that make that woman in Turkana not sleep at night, and that is why the sex boycott was a tool to get the attention of the populace and the leaders as well, and the leadership does not... much as the buck stops with the president and the prime minister, leadership goes all the way down to the locational levels," said Agengo.
Agengo said the wives of Kenya's most senior leaders were sympathetic to the cause.
"The G10 knows for a fact that the wives of the prime minister and the first lady of Kenya are in this with us. They support us, they are women, they are also part of the common denominator, they are women. So they support us and we know, just the same way we are using this as a tool to communicate our issues, we are confident that they shall also use this as a tool with their husbands to bring the issue out," said Agengo.
Kenya's coalition administration was formed last year to solve post-election violence that displaced hundreds of thousands of people and hit trade and economic growth across the region.
But to the growing dismay of Kenyans and foreign investors, many of its senior members have squabbled ever since.
Although activists championing the sex boycott hoped the statement would create a forum to discuss governance woes, many Kenyans have taken the call literally and on the streets of Nairobi there were mixed reactions, mostly from men.
"Sex is a vital thing and in African society it is believed that men are entitled to sex so if they protest and deny the men, men are going to... I think they are going to pay attention. They are going to listen and to rise to the occasion," said Peter Karanja, a resident of Nairobi.
"It's a stupid move, actually it won't work, given the situation in the Kenya currently and the women are deprived of themselves and no man will pay attention to whatever they say and given that our society is a male chauvinist...,still, society, so it might not work, it's not the best of all," said Joseph Otieno, another resident of Nairobi.
The months of bickering have disappointed many in the country who say little governing is being done while food prices and inflation remain high -- and serious corruption allegations involving senior officials continue to surface.
The G10 say they have more "shocking" strategies in store to get Kenya's leaders to listen.
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