NAIROBI Kenya, Feb 11 – Pastor Dorcas Rigathi, the second lady, has called on the government to assist in setting up a Sacco for the widows in order to help them develop financially.
Speaking at the 6th annual pre-Valentine dinner for widows and orphans at a hotel in Nairobi, Pastor Dorcas said widows and widowers matter as well and the government should take into account providing them with financial empowerment.
Dorcas said that if a powerful force is built by many partners in conjunction with the government to support widows and widowers, it will undoubtedly benefit them from the standpoint of being beggars.
“We need to take this thing a little higher, where we can have a widow’s Sacco with every chapter put into it so that we can build a big investment that can help them so that they can also become rich people who can invest,” she said.
“If we can form a formidable force that can be able to support us in whatever we want so that we don’t have to be beggars.”
Pastor Dorcas described how a widow raised her when her father passed away while she was a little child.
She says that her mother was capable of raising her 8 children.
The second lady also called on the women to work towards becoming independent after losing their husbands.
“I believe every woman when you lose your husband you still have the ability and the potential to be able to work and become independent to take care of your children. When you are left in such a gap, so times you are left exposed and not knowing what to do, “she said.
She condemned injustices subjected to widows saying there are policies being developed to protect them.
The Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Public Service, Gender and Affirmative Action Veronica Nduva noted that there are over 894,000 widows in Kenya according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics economic survey 2019.
She however says the government is committed to fighting for the rights of widows and protecting their human rights just like any other Kenyan.
