You may have heard that men rights activist Nderitu Njoka has called for a boycott on sex today by men. The controversial Nderitu has said that men should not kiss their spouses or partners or even come into contact with them. Why? Because of the increase in gender violence against men, and the increased use of drugs and alcohol abuse by women. Nderitu also wants men to protest because 2 billion has been set aside for sanitary towels and none has been set aside for circumcion of men.
Who is this guy Nderitu Njoka you may ask?
Well last week he was our guest at our rotary meeting and we got to find out about him and his cause.
Nderitu Njoka says that God called him, actually woke him up, and told him “fight for yourself.” He claims that God told him to fight for the rights of men and for them to be recognized as the head of the home.
According to Nderitu men are small gods and should be respected. He decries the government and NGOs for focusing on women’s issues and funding women. He says that since man is the head of the home he should be consulted in everything including funding of women. He is of the opinion that everything should start with men because men bring peace to the nation (never mind that men are the ones who start wars.) if men do not have peace women will not have peace. He is also against giving women equal opportunities and the quarter system in universities where women with fewer points are admitted into degree programs.
Nderitu Njoka decries the Facebook group deadbeat dads saying that the group demeaned men. He was enraged it seems because the person who started the group was a man, which was a betrayal according to him. He said that women who have issues with their men providing financial support should either go to the children’s court or the police as provided by the law.
Nderitu who is a polygamist, with several wives believes women were created for men. He said that it would be ungodly to fight for equality as God will never make women equal to men. According to him, God ordered things so that the man is the head of the household. He says that women should accept that they are supposed to submit to a man.
He said that he was instrumental in making sure the marriage bill did not have the clause that women must be consulted before a man marries another wife. According to him no woman would agree. According to him polygamy ensured that women had a right to enjoy marriage. He says that monogamy encourages prostitution of women because single women will go out with other women’s husbands and destabilize the home. But if they had a chance to be a second or third wife then they would be happy and so would their children.
Nderitu caused laughter and outrage in the room when he said that men are the manufacturers of children implying that women are just factories for producing children.
He says Maendeleo ya Wanaume are fighting to have the children’s act changed so that children only remain with the mother until they are 2 then they remain with the man after separation or divorce. He says the organization had commissioned some “research” which shows that 99% of street children are boys who had been abandoned by women who were getting married and couldn’t go with their children. He says boys are at a disadvantage because most men do not want a boy child to come with a woman whereas for a girl it is ok because she will not inherit. He also says that when a woman with children is married somewhere there is likely to be abuse (by men of course).
Nderitu is against women learning self defense to protect themselves from rape and assault. He is of the opinion that the right solution is to address the man and teach the man to respect women then he will not rape women. He says you can tell men to respect women and they will. Nderitu says that Maendeleo ya Wanaume has drafted some bills in parliament including the anti-homesexual bill and they have even had an anti gay day.
Nderitu Njoka has written a book which he says includes a letter he wrote to Obama. He said that he also wrote to JayZ when he was going through the issue with Solange and offered to help him with legal aid.
Nderitu comes across as a very determined person. I personally think he is an egoist attention seeker who wants us to go back to a time when men had all the say and women were just a decoration, labour, and baby making factories. Unfortunately we live in a new world where women are taking advantage of opportunities offered to them. We are no second class citizens waiting for men to rescue us. We are rescuing ourselves. The reason the government and NGO are giving funds to women is because they are enterprising and they also tend to have very low default rates unlike men.
The one thing I do agree with him is that men need to be taught to respect women so that they do not harass them. The only issue I have is that he is saying it but not practicing it himself. He thinks women are second class citizens whose role is to do what the man says. If you think like that how do you teach men to respect women?
Nderitu Njoka was selling his book Coup de grace but I refused to buy one because I felt that it would validate his ideas. He may think that people are buying his books because they agree with him and yet it is because people are curious about what he has to say. It was enlightening to hear him speak in person because I now know what Maendeleo ya Wanaume are about. The idea that a man is a small god who is to be admired and respected even without earning respect. Thank you I will take a pass on patriarchy.
