They groped my private parts, mum recalls ordeal in Malindi mob attack

Kwale County Women Representative Zeinab Chidzuga sheds tears at a press conference called by Women Leaders at Oceean View Hotel in malindi, Kilifi County on Tuesday,08th March,2016. The Women were protesting against a Malindi Woman Tailor Martha Mwanguo Mele who was allegedly undressed by Youths outside karima Polling Station, Shella ward in Kilifi County during the Malindi by-elections. Mele , a Mother of Two who was suspected over voter bribery claims said she had gone to vote and blamned Police for failing to protest her. PHOTO BY MAARUFU MOHAMED/STANDARD

As world marked the International Women’s Day on Tuesday, Martha Mwanguo Mele from Malindi was a traumatised woman.

Mrs Mwanguo and four other women were attacked by a mob during Monday’s violence-ridden Malindi by-election. Mwanguo and another woman were striped naked by the goons.

The day began normally for Mwanguo. She could finally join other residents of Malindi in electing a new MP. The stakes were high in the by-election, with the two leading candidates commanding a huge following.

Mwanguo knew her vote will make a difference. Thus, she woke up at 5.30am and headed to Kerima polling station in Shella to cast her vote. The 41-year-old mother of two then headed straight back home, she says.

But along the way, she was stopped by the police who said they wanted to question her over allegations that she had been buying votes.

“The officers asked me to get into their van. I asked them to take me to the police station if they had evidence that I had bribed voters. They took me back to the polling station instead,” says Mwanguo.

Traumatising experience

Upon her arrival at the polling station, a group of youths started gathering around the police van. In spite of her cries to the police that they take her to a police station, the officers appeared disinterested.

“I cried to them to take me to the police station. But my cries fell on deaf ears,” she says.

All this while, the crowd surrounding the car was getting larger and angrier. Overwhelmed, the police officers abandoned her to the mob’s wrath.

Cameramen who captured the incident said the mob accused Mwanguo of dishing out money for votes.

“The youths thought she had money in her handbag, which they snatched from her and turned it inside out. The police walked away as the number of youths increased,” says The Standard Group’s photographer Maarufu Mohamed.

After searching her bag, Martha says the mob only found Sh5. That seems to have rattled them more. They started shouting that she had hidden the money in her private parts.

“They then stripped me naked. I’ve never felt that helpless in my life. I felt betrayed by security officers who should have been there to protect me,” Martha told The Standard on Sunday in Malindi on Tuesday.

After a 10-minute ordeal and having found nothing, the youths left her.

“I walked to a nearby house where I was given a cloth to cover myself,” she says.

But that was not the end of her ordeal. Nude pictures of her have been widely circulated on social media, drawing the wrath of women leaders and civil rights activists.

On Tuesday, the leaders accused the police of shielding the culprits.

“Five women were stripped naked by Opposition youths. We have seen such incidents in the past when men politicians hired in Mombasa hired youths to intimidate women during elections,” said nominated Senator Emma Mbura.

On Thursday, Malindi OCPD Matawa Muchangi said despite reports of wide spread attacks and electoral violence, many incidents were not reported to the police.

Kwale Woman Representative Zeinab Chidzuga claimed she was also threatened by youths during the Malindi campaigns and termed the attack on women “an uncivilised act” that is against the African culture.

“When our youths are paid to strip their mothers, sisters or wives naked, we can only say the so-called democracy in this country is a mirage,” said the MP.

Taveta MP Naomi Shaban asked IEBC and the police to act tough on perpetrators of violence to encourage more women to participate in politics.

Poll violence

“On Saturday youths followed me to a petrol station in Malindi. They clearly wanted to attack me. This is very bad. If this can happen to us, what about the poor women in the rural areas?” said Shaban.

Yesterday, several civil society groups called on state and non-state actors to act on violence against women participating in politics.

They said electoral violence on women was discouraging them from engaging in politics.