Effective Security Planning and Management in Preventing Sexual Gender-Based Violence against Mentally Ill Women in Siaya County

Women have borne the burden of offensive cultural practices perpetuated through Sexual Gender-Based Violence (SGBV). Recurrent incidents of violence prior to and after the most notable 2007 General Elections in Kenya have, to a large extent, been the predisposing factors to a hype in the defilement and rape of mentally ill women in the country. Significant increase in sexual violation of mentally ill women is rooted in the fact that most of the perpetrators take advantage of the victims� intellectual incapacitation to evade prosecution. Furthermore, this group in the society is often neglected when it comes to resources, laws and security protection hence more vulnerable to sexual gender-based violence than any other group in the society. This research was carried out to assess the current handling of Sexual Gender Based Violence against Mentally Ill Women (MIW) in order to identify deficiencies and morph effective security planning and management strategies in Siaya County. The study is a descriptive survey that employed both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection from primary and secondary sources. Qualitative data was obtained from interviews, medical records and police occurrence books (OBs) while quantitative data was obtained from semi-structured questionnaires. The study comprised of 177 respondents; 71 Siaya County residents and 106 key informants who were selected through stratified and purposive sampling methods. Findings indicated that most residents in Siaya County are ignorant about Sexual Based Gender Violence against mentally challenged women. Further, security planning and management of SGBV against Mentally ill Women in the county is marred with challenges like poor police training, bribery, insufficient government support and lack of coordination and joint security planning. The study recommended strategies such as police and care giver training, investigation enhancement, government support, women empowerment and community participation as ways of effective security planning and management against SGBV in Siaya County.