University of Nairobi’s director security and safety services has been heavily condemned for blaming female students for being raped in an internal memo to address the vice.
According to the institution, in the recent past cases of students being robbed of their valuables and in worst cases raped by their assailants in the city and its environs were been reported to the security department. The memo went ahead to identify the most common blackspots for rape on the robbery to be around the University way, next to KEMU building/ Cooperative bank, St Paul Chapel and University way roundabout area and along Nyerere road adjacent to central park.
“In all the incidences reported since last year, a clear case of recklessness on the part of our female students can be drawn. In one incident, a female student entertained herself in various joints in the city and decided to walk all alone drunk from the city centre to the hostels in SWA all alone. Unfortunately, she met her assailants next to KEMU building at around O5OOhours where her bag was snatched and she was raped in turns by 3 men,” read the Memo in part.
But this statement did not augur well with Honorable Majala Mlagui elected deputy governor of the County Government of Taita Taveta who called out UON’s security department for normalising the culture of rape and blaming it on the victims.
“A woman/man cannot be involved in their own rape. They do not choose to participate in it. A clear case of recklessness on the part of the female students? Shame! Shame!Shame!,” she wrote on her twitter handle
The security department went ahead to give advisory as far as general conduct while in/from social places are concerned to mitigate such incidences in future.
- Always attend social places in the company of trusted friends
- Always have your friends/parents/relative number handy (memorised) so that in case your phone is lost, you can contact him or her
- Avoid social functions with no clear agenda
- Don’t leave your drinks unattended. Always leave a friend to watch over your drink as you go to the gents or the ladies
- Do not accept sweets opened drinks from strangers in social places.
