By Shukri Osman,
Mercy Mwangangi, the Health Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS), has spoken out on being in a toxic relationship, revealing her own encounter with an aggressive and agitated partner.
According to the young government employee, she was formerly involved in an abusive relationship with a man whom she intended to settle down with and start a family.
She had just finished her studies at the University of Adelaide in Australia, where she got a master’s degree in Health Economics and Policy, when her lover nearly assaulted her.
“Before they bite, they bark. Before they hit you, they hit near you,”
It was a quiet, chilly night in 2015. The couple had a falling out over an unidentified issue, and things went downhill from there.
The 36-year-old remembers her outraged lover slamming his fists against the walls, and she didn’t know what to do to protect herself. She was just 29 years old at the time.
The doctor, who was terrified to death, decided to phone her lawyer.
“That night at 3 a.m., when we had the altercation, I remember thinking to myself, ‘Okay, this has happened, who should I call?‘” Mwangangi recalled.
“Intriguingly, the first person I phoned was my lawyer, to see if there was anything I could do.” He was pounding on the walls all around me. She said, “He was agitated, and there was a lot of scuffling.”
Mwangangi talked at the Kenya School of Government in Nairobi on Wednesday, June 8, 2022, at the Gender-Based Violence Prevention and Response Scientific Conference.
The CAS stated that she shared her tale to urge women and anybody else who is experiencing abuse to speak up. She pointed out that gender violence may affect everyone in society, including powerful women.
“I remember thinking I am an empowered 29-year-old woman. How could this happen to me?” I am privileged that I am not from a poor background, and I have resources. I am educated. I have my own home, an apartment, my own car, and everything I needed to empower myself to be an independent female,” she said.
“So it can happen to any of us be it male, be it female, young or old.”
According to her, abuse doesn’t have to be physical assault.
“Before they bite, they bark. Before they hit you, they hit near you,” she quoted American Netflix TV series Maid.
According to the Gender Assault and Recovery Centre (GVRC), one out of every three women has been subjected to some kind of sexual violence before the age of 18.
In June 2021, the government committed to ending gender-based violence by 2026.Scaling up the National Police Service’s integrated response to GBV, Policare, and building GBV recovery clinics and shelters in all 47 counties by 2026 are only a few of the measures planned to achieve the aim.
