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{
    "id": 230089,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/230089/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 346,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Ms. Ndung'u",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 361,
        "legal_name": "Susanna Njoki Ndung'u",
        "slug": "njoki-ndungu"
    },
    "content": "I am doing so because of two critical issues that have been defied by the Front Bench. The first one relates to the implementation of the Sexual Offences Act. In July, this year, this House passed the Sexual Offences Bill and it was signed into law by the President. Since it is a criminal law, it means that judicial officers and law enforcement officers must be well versed with the law because it deleted sections of other criminal laws. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, last Saturday, I was attending a seminar of prosecutors and CID officers. That was the first time they were seeing a copy of the Sexual Offences Act. They are also so confused about the contents of that Act. Some cases were heard under the Penal Code and now they fall under the Sexual Offences Act. In some cases, some complainants are withdrawing cases. This was allowed in the former law, but not in the new law. There are no directives from the Chief Justice or the Attorney-General. There is no quality framework according to Section 48 of the law that we passed. How come then we are saying today that we want to go on recess and leave everything flat? Why do we want to let that confusion to continue in our police stations and hospitals where we had said that victims need to go for treatment? Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, today, I asked my Question and it was deferred. I think that the Question and the issue of policies on the Sexual Offences Act need to be responded to before we go on recess so that wananchi out there are assured of their rights. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the second Bill which was deferred today and which is of enormous impact to our security is the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill. Let me talk about a particular amendment which was supposed to amend the Evidence Act. When we came to this Parliament in 2003, this Parliament changed the law with regard to confessions. Unfortunately, that law has made it virtually impossible for criminals to be prosecuted or to be convicted and this has been a cry from the Commissioner of Police, his police officers and magistrates. They ask: \"Why can Parliament not rectify the law so that we are not releasing criminals every day?\" Every day, murderers, robbers and rapists are being freed. Our people are not safe and all we have to do is to change that law. Now, tell me: Are people going to wait until we come back in March or whenever? How can we, in good conscience, go home and sleep in our safe houses and crisp beds when we cannot change this law to help wananchi ? Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, another thing was the increase of judges. Again, we know that our courts have a \"traffic jam\"; backlog of civil and criminal cases. Some people have hearing dates until the end of the next year. Again, do we go home or do we tell Kenyans, \"we will fix it for you and we will ensure that you have access to justice?\""
}