By: Ollus Ndomu
Kenyan Senator Gloria Orwoba, from the ruling coalition, made a bold statement in Parliament on Tuesday when she attended a session wearing a white suit stained red in an apparent act of menstrual activism.
Her presence sparked disruption among the senators, who called attention to her “inappropriate dress code”.
Senator Orwoba is due to table a motion to provide free sanitary pads in an effort to end period poverty.
Her bold statement has already made waves in the Kenyan Parliament and across the country.
But the senator protested the objections saying:
“I am shocked that someone can stand here and say that the House has been disgraced because a woman has had her periods.”
Speaker Amason Kingi ordered the senator to go change her clothes before she could be readmitted to the chambers.
“Having periods is never a crime… Senator Gloria I sympathise with you that you are going through the natural act of menstruation, you have stained your wonderful suit, I’m asking you to leave so that you go change and come back with clothes that are not stained,” the speaker said. Quoted speech from the BBC