They were looking for money! Gender CS nominee on women killed in short-term rentals

Gender, Culture, The Arts and Heritage CS nominee Hannah Wendot Cheptumoduring vetting on April 14, 2025 / SCREENGRAB

Gender Cabinet Secretary nominee Hanna Wendot Cheptumo has come under sharp criticism following comments made during her vetting by Parliament, where she appeared to suggest that young women killed in short-term rentals met their deaths because they were looking for money to meet their basic needs.

Appearing before the Parliamentary Committee on Appointments on Monday, Cheptumo linked the rise in femicide cases to economic dependence among young women.

“Femicide is the intentional killing of women and girls; it is brought about by dependency. If girls were able to have economic power, they would not depend on either gender. Sometimes, you find them in places where they are exposed because they are trying to get alternative sources of income. If women are educated, chances are that they would avoid some of these challenges in society,” she said.

However, when Speaker Moses Wetang'ula challenged her that some of the girls killed in short-term rentals are university students, hence the question of women's dependency on the men due to lack of empowerment does not hold water.

In response, Wendot said, “They are educated but those ones are looking for money. You know a girl has many needs," she said before Likoni MP Mishi Mboko raised an objection to Wendot's sentiments.

"It is not good to say that those girls are looking for money and that is why they are brutally murdered. We have seen so many women who have been murdered, but not in those circumstances, so it is wrong to say that," Mboko said.

Her remarks have sparked backlash, with critics accusing her of victim-blaming at a time when the country has seen a troubling rise in the killing of young women, often in private residences booked through short-term rental platforms.

REACTIONS

Lucky Mbaye: "Is femicide really about dependency? In this day and age, where we have more educated women, women who work, and women who have built their own careers. And even if a woman is financially ‘dependent’ does that justify murder?"

M.eilar: "This is actually very heartbreaking."

Purple Rain: "If a guy said this Wednesday Feminists would be at Jee vanjee gardens with black Tshirts."

Wambui Ndirangu: "A materialistic culture. Let’s teach our girls love themselves more than things and what this actually looks like."

Lannister: "Women have been given enough equity, and I guess more than enough in Kenyan society. Actually, it's been at the expense of a boy child for all the goodies a girl child is getting. Infant the kenyan society has been so lenient to women and so harsh on men when giving opportunities."

Marin Imanthiu: "She's right to some extent. Empower both men and women equally, and you'll have reduced chances of one killing the other. Murder has been studied for ages, and only mud-covered ostriches won't check for trends and facts."

Cheptumo was nominated by President William Ruto to head the Ministry of Gender, Culture, The Arts and Heritage—a docket that has lacked a substantive Cabinet Secretary since Ruto dissolved his Cabinet earlier this year.

She is the widow of former Baringo Senator William Cheptumo, who passed away on February 15, 2025.

During the vetting session, Cheptumo said she previously worked at the Ministry of Cooperative Development for 14 years.

She pledged to push for increased funding for the Gender Ministry if approved and emphasized the importance of teamwork.

“Where I am going to work, I will not be alone; we have a structure in that ministry, so you work with the people who are there. I believe I am qualified,” she said.

Comparing her potential appointment to a partnership, she added, “Mine is like an issue of marriage; it is me who is getting married there, and the marriage must work.”