Prime Minister’s wife Ida leads sex boycott

Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s wife, Ida, on Thursday said she was at the forefront in leading women to heed a seven-day sex boycott called by women’s organisations. Asked if she was part of it, she emphatically replied “of course”. “If some women have decided, we have all decided,” said Mrs Odinga.

She said the boycott, called in protest against the country’s leadership, was already a success because of the media attention it has attracted. “Women wanted to drive the issue home ... they did it with a light touch,” she said. Ms Odinga said she was disturbed by some men’s reaction to the boycott and appealed to them not to beat their wives.

At the same time, a major rift emerged in a women’s organisation over the boycott. Maendeleo ya Wanawake vice-chair Rahab Muiu criticised the presence of the organisation’s chairperson at a press conference where the strike was announced. “As the largest women’s organisation in the country, we strongly believe in family values and cannot be associated with such foul utterances which can only break families,” Mrs Muiu said.

She said chairperson Rukia Subow supported the sex boycott in her personal capacity. However, Mrs Subow has come out fighting, retorting: “I set the agenda for women in this country.”

Beaten up

The organisation’s assistant national secretary, Mrs Elizabeth Mayieka, said women in Nyanza were beaten by their husbands over the proposed boycott. She condemned the boycott, saying it is taboo to talk about bedroom matters in public and in the presence of children.

Mrs Afiya Rama, ODM Kenya branch chairperson, said domestic issues could not be mixed with a national crisis and warned that the boycott would contribute to the break-up of marriages.