Attacks on men spark off debate

Kenya: A woman who says she is “from Central Kenya” is sure to be asked if she is from Nyeri. Reason?

Men in the county sitting at the foot Mt Kenya are “Nyerified”, while their women are “Nyerious”. The inclination to poke fun at men hailing from this county has moved from being henpecked to the level where “their performance contracts” in material beds continually attract some punishment - in most cases it involves the brutal removal of what other Kenyans now jokingly refer to as “transformers”.

Thus for the last few days, Nyeri has been trending on Twitter, Facebook and other socials site, but for all the wrong reasons.

Two men were admitted to Nyeri County Referral Hospital within a week after their spouses severed their manhood.

And reports indicate that a third man, a driver of one of the county’s administrators was admitted to the same hospital after his wife who is an Administration Police constable allegedly scalded him with hot milk on Sunday evening.

And trust Kenyans to make fun of this serious matter.

Only three weeks ago, the county soared in reputation when it hosted thousands of pilgrims who thronged Nyeri and Mukurweini towns for the beatification of Blessed Irene Nyaatha Stefani.

Nyeri town got a facelift worth more than Sh200 millions ahead of the historic event.

Street lights were installed even in the traditional dark allays, and the joke that did rounds was that even the women of the night had been rendered jobless, since their turf had been illuminated.

The town and the county at large had clearly turned a Holy ground and no sin could be associated with it.

But barely three weeks after the beatification, negative stories and incidents have started trickling, earning the name  ‘Nyerification’.

It started with an incident in Kiamariki village in Kieni West on Thursday when Anne Njeri King’ori allegedly chopped off her husband’s manhood, over claims he spent all the family’s onion proceeds in one night.

King’ori reportedly arrived home on Thursday in the morning and his wife allegedly found condoms in his pockets, hence sparking off the attack.

And on Tuesday morning, Valentine Mugure from game Rock area, along the Nyeri-Kiganjo road made news after she mutilated her lover’s manhood with a kitchen knife.

Kenyans took to social media platforms and grabbed an opportunity to ‘lynch’ Nyeri women. A photoshop of the recently Beatified Sister Nyaatha indicated that the nun is ‘the last Merciful woman in Nyeri County”.

Maendeleo ya Wanaume Organisation Chairman Nderitu Njoka called for amendment of the Sexual Offences Act to include such violent acts against men.