JANET MBUGUA COMMENDS SONKO FOR RESCUING HIS DAUGHTER FROM ABUSE

Media personality Janet Mbagua has commended former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko in rescuing his daughter Salma Mbuvi from a domestic abuse situation.

This comes after a widely circulated video showed the former governor intervening to remove his daughter from her home and taking her to the Gender Violence Recovery Centre (GVRC). “He did what a lot of families failed to do. He named the violence. He took his daughter out of danger, he went straight to the gender violence recovery center. He saved her life,” Mbugua stated. “This incident forces us to confront the difficult parts of the conversation we often avoid.”

She explained the complex reasons why survivors often remain in abusive environments, “Survivors stay not because they want the abuse, but because the cycle is complicated,” she explained. “Fear and love can live in the same space, because economic dependence is real, because stigma and shame are real.“

Mbugua outlined what support should entail after rescue, “It means paying attention to any signs, any patterns that you can name, and be a safe space for the person who is affected, because remember, shame and stigma and fear are real. It means sharing resources like the gvrc, which has a free helpline and tons of other resources that exist online.”