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{
"id": 250986,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/250986/?format=api",
"text_counter": 195,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mrs. Tett",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Housing",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. If passed, this Bill will have the highest number of amendments. It will also be a legislative eye-opener for other Parliaments all over the world. It will put our country squarely on the limelight. It will be a historical legislative achievement in Kenya. The Ninth Parliament will go down in history, as the one which passed the Bill. The Bill is long overdue and many victims have suffered. When we go out of the country, we hear many foreign Members of Parliament enquiring about the Bill. They are waiting for the Bill to be passed here, so that they can also use it in their countries. That notwithstanding, I pose the question: What happened to some members of our society? Why are rape cases increasing on a daily basis? Our country ranks among the top in the world, in terms of the number of rape cases. Every 30 minutes a woman, a girl or a boy is raped. That is appalling. I also pose the question: Who are these people who rape five-month-old babies and 86-year-old women? Recently, there was a 96-year-old woman who died as a result of rape. What sort of animals do such things? I call them animals, although there has never been cases of animals like elephants or giraffes that rape their young ones. Those are not just animals. They are worse than animals. No animals rape their own. They also go as far as raping mentally-ill children. Who is supposed to protect the mentally-ill people? It is our duty, as Members of this House and the society as a whole, to protect those children. Therefore, we should come out and support the Bill. Our cultural norms and values have been thrown out of the window. In our society, it was a taboo to rape a minor. To those who rape children, the taboo does not seem to exist any more. They do what they want so as to enjoy themselves. We really do not know where such anti-social behaviour comes from. Is it as a result of our failed social lifestyles? It has been suggested that our failing social conditions and lifestyles have contributed to this anti-social behaviour. As a community, and Parliamentarians in this House, we cannot allow or condone such an outrageous behaviour. Every day, the situation degenerates further. The time has, therefore, come for us to reverse this trend. I believe this Bill will do just that. This Bill will definitely reform the thinking of those who may be tempted to commit such a crime. At the moment, the law, as we all know, is totally inadequate. It is a law that requires production of proof including the calling of witnesses on the part of the victim. Does a man who decides to rape a child or a grandmother do it before a witness? Does he go out singing that he has raped somebody? Of course not! However, the law provides that the victims of rape must prove that they were raped. This is a law that is totally inadequate. How can a victim who is so traumatised remember all the details that are required by the court? How can a victim validate the evidence which is required as is stipulated in the Evidence Act? The requirements are punitive to the minor and the lawyers are known for turning evidence upside down. They ask victims torturous questions without any remorse. They only care for the rapists. Such requirements of law make it possible for the rapists to get away scot-free. This Bill seeks to remove such requirements as indicated in Subclause 34(4). We are aware that accused rapists get bail. Thereafter they go back to the community where they committed the crime. This gives them the opportunity to see the victims, chest-thump themselves and laugh about telling the victims that nothing can happen to them. This is really torturous to the victims. They also threaten the victims with death or anything bad if they continue May 2, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 821 with the case. This further traumatises the victims. Such dangerous criminals should not be given bail. They intimidate the victims greatly. The family members of the victim also treat her as the offender and she becomes fearful. This Bill will set up a framework that will ensure the protection of the victims of rape. The Bill places the ruthless sexual offenders against the State as opposed to some hopeless, poor victims. The Bill also provides for a minimum sentence. It is long overdue because it will go a long way in protecting the victims of rape. Mr. Speaker, Sir, this Bill proposes to deal with cases of sexual abuse as cases of violence and not offences against morality as is the case now. Such offenders will now have to reckon with formidable State machinery rather than singular families. We have come across cases where parents of young victims are made to accept compensation in order to withdraw rape cases before court. Some parents have been bribed with items such as bicycles, wheelbarrows or cows in order to redeem the offender. How does the child who was raped feel? Perhaps, when they are negotiating for the items, the child is seated with them while undergoing so much pain. The child can do nothing about it. This Bill proposes that the right to determine cases will now be exercised by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and not the police. This will remove the possibility of arbitrary withdrawal of cases since the State will now become the complainant. The victim is thus protected in this case. We have heard of so many cases whereby the rapists go scot-free. Many times, we have heard of children being raped by their own fathers. The mother to the children is so vulnerable, poor and entirely dependent on the husband. She is helpless and, therefore, turns to her child and tells her not to whisper anything to the outside world. You can imagine the great suffering of that mother because she has no alternative. She has sick children to fend for and yet she is jobless. The father continues to rape the child and all the mother can do is to tell that child to keep quite. Inwardly, the pain of the mother is unbearable, but she is helpless. Who is charged with the responsibility of protecting such vulnerable victims? Under Clause 8, on page 353 of the Bill, it is our duty to protect those victims. Mr. Speaker, Sir, many times we have seen the evidence of inhuman acts in Nairobi Women Hospital. We see children who have been brutally raped, mutilated and disfigured. It takes many doctors to mend such damages. Surely, we cannot let this issue go on like this. I do not know how many of us in this House have been to Nairobi Women Hospital to see how traumatised those victims are. I bet very few of us have gone there."
}