I am talking about the Sexual Offences Act.
This stupid law, which was introduced to Parliament by my distant relative Njoki Ndungu MUST be done away with. It is not only draconian but also retrogressive and just down-right stupid.
Let me explain.
Njoki Ndungu, who championed the draft bill when she was a NARC nominated MP, comes from a broken family that lived in Karen. When her mother and father broke up, Njoki Ndungu actually represented her mother in court AGAINST her own father. It would not be far-fetched to say that, at least at that time and probably later on, she held much angst and bitterness against men.
It is instructive that the good lady remains unmarried even today.
It is this woman who stood against her own father in court and proclaimed him a monster, together with other feminists from organisations such as FIDA, who drafted Kenya’s draconian, ruthless and brutal Sexual Offences Act (SOA).
The running narrative across the entire Act is this: Men are the enemy, and the enemy must be crushed.
The Act commits some breath-taking human rights abuse through various clauses, including setting minimum sentences for most sexual offences. But as the Supreme Court ruled recently in the case of the death penalty, mandatory minimum sentences are extra-constitutional - they not only deny the judge to rule based on context and mitigating circumstances but also impose a blanket sentence for all circumstances. This could easily negate the administration and conduct of justice; even the killing of a person can be segregated into several degrees, ranging from capital murder to manslaughter.
Let me give a few examples.
A 19-year old boy sleeps with a 17-year old girl. Basically these are agemates. Kenya’s SOA says that the boy, having achieved majority age and the girl still being a minor, should be jailed for a minimum of 15 years if the two are caught having congress. No bargaining, nothing. Good people, THERE’S NOWHERE IN THE CIVILISED WORLD WHERE SUCH SENTENCES pertain. The only places with such brutal sexual laws are Islamic countries where they routinely behead human beings. Should Kenya be proud to be in the league of such nations?
Example 2. You walk into a bar and in the dim lights you spot a girl. She’s drinking, and bars are in any case supposed to be patronised by adults. You strike a conversation with the girl and walk into the night together and spend the night. In the morning you are arrested for statutory rape of a 15-year old. A 15-year old you found in an adult place drinking alcohol and who, like all prostitutes, said she was not carrying her ID. The judge has no options but to hand you a mandatory life sentence (this, by the way is how that Kisumu lady who was caught with an adult-looking 16-year old boy she had found in a bar was sentenced to 15 years).
I could go on and on and on but I believe the point is made; Parliament needs to move with speed to scrap or totally amend this law. While its supporters say that it cuts both ways, as in the case of the Kisumu lady, it is obvious it is targeted at men. Since time immemorial men have always pursued younger women, and they always will.
Since its enactment, thousands of young Kenyan men who could otherwise be contributing to the growth of the economy are languishing in jail for what in countries like America, Britain, Canada, Australia would be sentences of a few months; for God’s sake why sentence a young man of 21 years to life for undressing a girl he’s having a fight with in a matatu? How is he expected to reform when his entire life will be spent behind bars? How is that proportionate, if justice is about fairness?
Personally, I would understand if the harsher sentences applied to repeat offenders or those who assault children below 14 years, which is is in fact the age of consent in much of the Western world which we seem always too keen to ape. But to arbitrarily raise the age of consent to 18, as if something magical happens at midnight on that birthday, and proceed to jail a 24-year old man who has consensual sex with a 17.5 years old girl for 20 years is just downright wrong and immoral. It is just unbelievable folks, unbelievable.
It hurts more when you consider that the young men being jailed are the sons of poor people who cannot afford to hire lawyers or buy the judges; otherwise the sons of people like Wambui Otieno who raped a 10-year old in Ngong Forest would be rotting in jail.
In a macabre, bizarre but chilling way, the SOA reflects the same disregard for our poor young men as is shown by the police when they engage in shoot-to-kill sprees in deprived neighbourhoods. Macabre and bizarre because the SOA was enacted at the behest of highly-educated people who should have known better than the barely literate police, and who said they were fighting for the human rights of all.
Caveat: This rant has not been inspired by any personal sexual experience. I DID NOT HAVE SEX WITH THAT MINOR!
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