On September 7th, 2007, Kenyan parliamentary candidate Flora Igoki Terah was abducted and tortured by a group of men.
The attack took place with the intention of silencing her election bid against a minister in President Mwai Kibaki’s government, and was carried out with impunity. Terah’s physical recovery took weeks and resulted in the loss of her place in the December election, but the hardest blow came the following year when her 19-year-old only son was murdered, his death brushed aside by the authorities.
Flora Terah’s case is not an isolated incident – 153 cases of electoral violence against women candidates were reported to Nairobi’s Education Centre for Women in Democracy leading up to the 2007 elections.
For Terah, this injustice has given her all the more reason to hold onto her political aspirations. She has since founded Terah Against Terror – an organization for victims of electoral violence, and works with the Centre for Multiparty Democracy to strengthen the democratic process in Kenya.
Her book, “They Never Killed My Spirit” – an account of her experiences – was published last year. Flora Terah plans to run for parliament again in the 2012 Kenyan elections.
Amnesty International hosted Flora Terah in Ottawa on September 23rd, 2009. The recording was taken from that evening, and includes the event’s closing question and answer session.
