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{
    "id": 250980,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/250980/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 189,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Awori",
    "speaker_title": "The Vice-President and Minister for Home Affairs",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 290,
        "legal_name": "Moody Arthur Awori",
        "slug": "moody-awori"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to make my contribution to this very important Bill. From the outset, I want to state that I fully support this Bill. Sexual offences seem to have gone totally out of hand and it looks as if there is nobody who is safe. When I say \"nobody\", I really mean nobody: No woman, whether it is a mother, sister, daughter or an aunt is safe. It is not just women. Even young boys, including men, tend to be in danger of sexual offences. The worst people are the perpetrators. One would expect that they would be social deviants but, in many cases, they are what one would call \"normal people\". You will find teachers, lawyers, doctors, pastors and even bishops who are also committing these offences. The worst part is that we now have parents and guardians of children perpetrating these offences. We must fight this scourge! We must fight it with every weapon that is available. I am happy to note that the Bill puts a lot of emphasis on the protection of the girl-child. While I know that no matter how hard we fight, we may not be able to eradicate sexual offences but we must go on record as having tried to reduce these sexual offences. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we already have very many existing laws in the Penal Code and the Children's Act. We have laws to fight sexual offences. However, what we need now is to strengthen them, to close the loopholes and bring them up to date. The law that we have to enact through this Bill must be consistent with the existing laws. A few of the clauses in this Bill are contradictory to the existing laws. You cannot put the responsibility of proving guilt or innocence on the accused. It is important that we ensure that the law follows the other laws. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want to simply ask my colleagues that while we are looking at the weaknesses in this Bill, we do not trivialise; that we have to be conscious and sensitive of other people's feelings, particularly women. How mature and triumphant it would have been if this Bill was brought in the House by a male hon. Member or if a male hon. Member co-sponsored this Bill with the gracious lady. However, because I am very keen to ensure that the Bill goes through, I want to appeal to my colleagues to look at it very positively. No matter how abhorrent the crime is, we must give the accused the benefit of the doubt. That is the principle on which all our laws are based. The accused cannot be asked to prove his innocence. The state has all the machinery to gather all the evidence to show if the person is guilty or not. If there is any reasonable doubt that the person is not guilty, then that person must be released. He must be given the benefit of the doubt. This is simply because you cannot punish innocent people. We have to avoid enacting a law that can be used for malice, jealousy or revenge. We want a law that cannot be used to blackmail others. It is evident from some of the clauses that this law will be used for that."
}