Daughter’s Fight for Justice » Capital News

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 9 – When her father died in 1997, six-year-old Emma Mongute didn’t just lose a parent, she watched her mother blamed, shunned, and stripped of everything they owned. It reflected the customary and legal injustices that many widows in Kenya continue to face.

Her mother, Anne Bonareri, a Medical laboratory technologist was six months pregnant at the time, already raising three children all below six years old. What should have been a time of mourning turned quickly into a battle for survival. The death of her husband marked not just the loss of a partner, a father to her children but the beginning of Anne’s rejection by both her in-laws and society at large.

Instead of receiving support, Anne was accused of causing her husband’s death. She was pressured by her mother-in-law to be inherited by her late husband’s elder brother, a man who had once been her primary school teacher.

At her most vulnerable, Anne was forced to protect her dignity with no support system around her. With nowhere to turn, she left her home in Keroka, Nyamira, where she was married and started over in Kisii after buying a small plot of land to raise her children alone.

Emma remembers those days vividly: the struggles, the sacrifices, the relentless work. She watched her mother juggle multiple jobs, including night shifts at a hospital. She witnessed her plead for bursaries and lean on friends and well-wishers to help pay school fees. There were no shortcuts, privileges, no safety nets.

“My mother worked night shifts in one hospital and days in another. I remember one night we were attacked by thugs while she was away. I’ve seen her beg for bursaries and be turned away and call friends for a Harambee just to raise our school fees. Those moments shaped my childhood,” she recounted.

What shaped Emma more than the struggle itself was the silence her mother carried. Anne rarely spoke of the pain or rejection she endured. She bore it all quietly, like many widows who stay silent because speaking out often brings more judgment than support.

But even in that silence and suffering, a fire was lit. Emma understood the weight of it and for her, that silence became a reason to speak, a call to break what her mother had been forced to carry alone. Today, Emma’s fight for widows’ rights is more than advocacy; it’s a legacy born from her mother’s strength and resilience.

Years later, she founded the Amandla MEK Foundation, an organization focused on empowering women both economically and socially. Through her work as a Nguvu Collective Change Leader, Emma now champions the rights of widows and young women, advocating for policies that address gender-based violence, legal injustices, and barriers to financial access.

“My mother was stripped of everything — land, property, even respect. But she never let herself be stripped of hope. That strength is why I do what I do,” she stated. “Widows lack legal, financial, and even mental health support. Our leaders must find ways to support them and build systems that truly work.”

Emma believes that legal reform is essential. Too many widows, she says, continue to lose their property and remain unheard, held back by traditions that need to evolve in a more just and inclusive society.

She also emphasizes the need for mental health support and financial empowerment. “Many widows in Kenya still lack the necessary support to deal with inheritance and customary injustices they go through. Economic power is voice.”

Anne, now aged 60, says she never imagined her pain would fuel a movement. She speaks with quiet pride about her daughter’s work, reflecting on a time when she felt completely alone.

“I thought of ending my life five times. I had lost everything, and no one wanted to help. But I couldn’t leave my children. I had to raise them,” Anne recalls. “When I see Emma stand up for women like me, I feel proud, and I thank God I never gave up.”

Emma Mongute and her mother, Anne Bonareri, represent a powerful generational shift from silence to advocacy, from being sidelined to speaking out. Anne endured her widowhood quietly, navigating rejection, stigma, and hardship with little support but she poured everything into raising her four children. Her strength was quiet but unwavering.

Today, Emma is turning that quiet strength into bold action. The pain her mother carried silently is now fueling Emma’s public fight for justice.

“My mother went through everything alone, but she never gave up on us,” Emma says. “That’s why I speak up.”

Emma’s advocacy is part of a broader movement demanding structural change, not just sympathy. According to Ajra Mohamed, the Programs Partnerships Lead at Nguvu Collective, widows in Kenya don’t just face personal struggles they are also affected by unfair systems and outdated traditions that make their lives even harder.

“Widows in Kenya face deep injustices. Many endure harmful rituals, stigma, and even accusations of witchcraft and despite legal protections, they’re often stripped of land and property due to weak law enforcement and outdated customs,” she stated.

To protect and empower widows Ajra affirmed that Kenya must go beyond words and take necessary legal action.

“We need stronger enforcement of the law, better access to legal aid, and the criminalization of harmful widowhood practices,” she explained.

She also called for land reforms, joint property ownership, public awareness campaigns to end stigma, and targeted support through social protection programmes to help widows rebuild their lives with dignity.