Njoki Karuoya

In rare moments of weakness, I feel sorry for Ndiritu Njoka, the self-proclaimed protector of men’s rights, because he truly has a huge task before him. First, not many people believe in him and those who claim to do so seem to only want to maximise on their 15 minutes of national fame.

When he unleashed his rather questionable statistics on the high number of men being abused by their women, men around the country and the region laughed. In the pub that evening, the statistics were the brunt of many drunken jokes. And that is why I sometimes feel sorry for the chairman of Maendeleo ya Wanaume.

Last week, 11 African ministers from the Great Lakes Region variously charged with gender, women and children affairs invited him to Mombasa to help them understand how society was changing so drastically that it was allowing women to physically and emotionally abuse their spouses. The ministers, including Kenya’s Esther Murugi-Mathenge, were ready to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Defend cause

Delegates were informed that he had agreed to make an appearance but he was a no-show in the four-day conference. Whether he had accepted to make an appearance or not, this would have been a great opportunity for him to defend his cause before an international audience and even make an appeal for understanding as well as financial and material support.

Instead, he chose to call a press conference and castigate the First Lady’s speech made as she officially launched the regional conference. This cowardly act is one of the many reasons why majority of Kenyans do not hold his assertions of abuse as true. Instead, they see his actions as a stunt to hog the media and create a name (albeit notorious) for himself.

For one, how did he come up with a figure of 1.5 million abused men? Who did he interview? How did they select their sample? Saying the research was conducted over a period of eight months is not enough to prove authority over the figures. And if there are so many men abused by their spouses, how come only a motley few came forward to display their bruises?

Professional research

Any form of domestic abuse, whether meted out against men, women or children, is totally unacceptable. It is, therefore, tragic that one individual appears to be trivialising such a grave issue. This is the reason why ministers from Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Sudan, Congo Brazzaville, Zambia and more than 100 delegates from around the world came to Kenya to establish a regional research and documentation centre that will hold all legitimate and professional studies conducted in the region and beyond. Such information will then be used to either enhance the effectiveness of existing strategies or formulate and implement new policies.

At the close of the regional forum, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka officiated over the declaration, which strongly condemns all forms of gender-based violence. Gender, incidentally, covers both men and women and not just women as it is widely misconceived. If Njoka is serious about his mandate to protect the rights of men, he should work closely with the national secretariat which, in partnership with research institutions, regional networks, non-governmental organisations, UN agencies and international organisations, will "promote respect for women’s human rights, security and protection against all forms of violence".

Elements of truth

And like First Lady Lucy Kibaki opined in her speech, women must also be good to men if they want to achieve all their goals. How can Maendeleo ya Wanaume frown on such a generous gesture?

There could be elements of truth in Njoka’s research findings but he needs to find more credible ways of putting his message across to wananchi. Crying foul over the changing roles in society is demeaning a more fundamental crisis.