Kenya: a red stain on the suit of an elected causes an outcry in the Senate
Kenyan Senator Gloria Orwoba provoked the ire of some of her colleagues by arriving at the session with an apparently bloodstained suit on February 14, 2023. © Capture Youtube
Text by: RFI Follow
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During the debates in the Senate on Tuesday February 14, an elected representative of the presidential coalition, Gloria Orwoba, appeared with a white suit apparently stained with blood between her legs.
The senator is a very active campaigner for obtaining free feminine sanitary protection for poor young girls.
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It took about fifteen minutes of lively, sometimes brutal, exchanges inside the Kenyan Senate, so that the debates could finally begin.
In question: the red stain visible on the white suit of Senator Gloria Orwoba and a reminder of the rules raised by several elected officials, including Tabitha Mutinda, yet a member of the same presidential coalition.
"
As a woman and as a senator, I find it very uncomfortable, very inappropriate
," she said.
It is unknown if she is in her natural female cycle or if this is a publicity stunt.
It's very indecent.
Our society, our feminine culture demands intimacy
”
We welcome Nominated Senator @gloria_orwoba move of giving notice of motion on Free Sanitary towels ending period poverty and stigma in our society.
Period Poverty and Stigma is a stumbling block to our girls education and dignity.#BringingGirlsBackToClass#EndPeriodPoverty pic.twitter.com/ENC3NI1SBJ
— Pads 4 Education (@Pads4Education) February 14, 2023
Despite President Amason Kingi's moderate arbitration, the agitation mounted in the stands, to the point that Senator Enoch Wambua went even further: "What the senator did
today in this assembly is a disgrace, it is an affront to the presidency
.
»
Challenged again and again, Senator Gloria Orwoba
tried to defend herself
: “
Here is the stigma of menstruation!
These are things that drive our young girls to suicide!
There is a young girl who killed herself because of what I suffered today!
And I understand why now.
I am shocked to hear anyone dare to say that this assembly has been defiled!
But
nothing helped: President Kingi finally politely asked him to leave the Senate compound.
Not for "contempt", but "
so that she can go and change
", he said.
Senator Gloria Orwoba, I am not asking you to leave because you are out of order, but I am asking you to leave so that you go change and come back with a cloth that is not stained~ Speaker Amos Kingi.
pic.twitter.com/pKNUrJidKP
— LOOK UP TV (@lookuptv) February 14, 2023
► To read also: Too many young girls insufficiently informed about menstruation according to Unicef
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