Men Demand Family Ministry, Scrapping Of Women Fund Or Else…….

Former Gatundu North MP Hon. Clement Kung’u Waibara (extreme right) receiving his Man of The Month Trophy for February 2017 from MAWE Chairperson Nderitu Njoka. With them is Kennedy Mwaura, who is an executive member of MAWE.

Men’s rights activist Nderitu Njoka has made a passionate appeal to the Jubilee Government to create a Family Affairs Ministry in order to ensure a more comprehensive and participatory approach to tackling the country’s social challenges and create programmes that will help to address social justice for both men and women.

This ministry, according to Mr. Njoka, who is Maendeleo ya Wanaume Organisation's (MAWE) chairperson, is supposed to play a coordinating role in the legislative process to promote the ideal family in which the father was the head of the family and the wife an assistant to her husband.

Mr. Njoka said that the current framework in the laws and government programming was skewed in favour of the woman and the girl-child, totally discriminating the man as the head of the family as well as the boy-child.

He added that part of the reasons why the family institution was at crossroads was the disempowerment of the man in the family.

Speaking while launching their inaugural ‘Man of the Month Award’ ceremony in Thika, Njoka said that studies done in the country this year indicated a steep rise in violence against men and the boy-child especially from their female counterparts. He reckoned that part of the reason was that the woman had been so empowered both financially and by law to the disadvantage of the man, leaving the man at the mercy of the wives.

“The government has instituted so many laws that impact negatively to the well-being of the man. They have also initiated various funds to empower the woman and the girl-child but none for the men. Who said that all men above the age of 35 years are rich? This is the reason why men are being violently attacked by their wives at home because of their financial incapability,” said Njoka.

The MAWE chairperson said that his organisation would continue advocating for gender equity and programmes that enhanced male gender empowerment.

“We are also going to demand for the disbandment of the UWEZO and Women Funds and in their place we have a Family Fund that will cater for all the members of the family including the man as the head of the family,” he added.

Kennedy Mwaura, who is an executive member of MAWE, said that it was the high time the system stopped to look down on the male gender. He said that the society had been made to believe that it was okay when a woman hit a man thus encouraged more violence against the male gender.

“It is big news when a man hits a woman, but everyone has treated it as comedy when a woman physically violates the man. This is unacceptable and we cannot allow that,” warned Mwaura.   

It is in this same vein that the organisation introduced the ‘Man of the Month Award’ to acknowledge men who have made a significant contribution to the general welfare of the man and the boy-child.

In this regard, His Excellency President Uhuru Kenyatta won the first award for this year (January) for his exemplary efforts to alleviate the status of the boy-child and male gender by fighting illicit alcohol and drug abuse.

According to MAWE, President Uhuru saved over 2 million male young men from extinction when he rescued them from the scourge.

The nominee for the month of February 2017 is former Gatundu North MP Hon. Clement Kung’u Waibara who used his personal resources to help a 5 year old boy who was assaulted by his class teacher causing severe genital mutilation that landed him in hospital.

Waibara helped to raise over sh. 300,000 to see him through treatment in both St. Mulumba Mission and the Aga Khan hospitals. The boy’s bill has now amounted to over sh. 1.5 million.

Daniel Ndambuki aka Churchill or Mwalimu King’ang’i is the third nominee for the MAWE ‘Man of the Month Award’. Mwalimu King’ang’i won the hearts of the judges for his noble contribution in mentoring the youth and in particular the boy-child through comedy as a lifestyle career via his Churchill Laugh Industry’s TV programme.

Both the president and Churchill were awarded in absentia due to other prior commitments.

While receiving his trophy and the MAWE gold life membership certificate, Hon. Waibara promised, if elected as the next Gatundu North MP, to legislate a law in Parliament to protect the boy-child from any form of discrimination. He also said that he would lobby for the scrapping of the women representative position in the constitution as this was one of the ways used to discriminate against men.