Siaya: Siaya County Member of Parliament Dr. Christine Ombaka is calling on the government to deploy a special unit to tackle the rising incidents of rape and killing of schoolgirls in Gem constituency.

According to Kenya News Agency, the rising cases of femicide targeting innocent girls in the area were causing concern and concerted efforts are required to bring the perpetrators to book.

Speaking in Rarieda and Bondo constituencies during a tour of the National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF)-funded development projects, Dr. Ombaka said that should the police fail, then the government should consider deploying the Kenya Defence Forces to comb the area and deal with the menace once and for all. ‘We have had a series of deaths involving young girls in Gem,’ she lamented, adding, ‘a young girl was ambushed while going to school in Yala by people who violated her body and killed her.’

This was just a day after another girl was waylaid early in the morning at Mindhine in Sagam, East Gem ward and killed. The legislator, who condemned the incidents, challenged the police to rise to the occasion and ensure that the culprits were weeded out of the society and made to face justice. She lamented that the Gem constituency has, for a long time, been a peaceful place but suddenly there is an upsurge of gender-based violence.

During the tour, Dr. Ombaka, who was accompanied by the Siaya County NGAAF Coordinator, Nancy Okademi, distributed economic empowerment grants to several groups. Okademi said that NGAAF will distribute grants worth Sh2.5 million to 25 groups across the county during the fourth quarter of the 2024/2025 financial year.