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"id": 251086,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/251086/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. M'Mukindia",
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"speaker": {
"id": 271,
"legal_name": "Kirugi Joseph Laiboni M'Mukindia",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I was saying that we have not been able to confront and resolve these major social issues that affect our society, one way or the other. So, I want to congratulate hon. Ndung'u for being courageous enough to bring this very important social issue to this House for discussion. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Bill has very noble intentions and I support it very strongly. For one not to support this Bill is to give several negative messages to more than half of our society. As hon. Members know, for every one man in this country, there are 1.1 women. In other words, the population of women in this country is higher than that of men. If we do not pass this Bill, we shall be telling our mothers, daughters and our wives that we do not care, that we do not feel the pain when they suffer. To fail to support or pass this Bill would be cowardly on us. If there are issues that perhaps, touch on cultural values, we ought to be courageous enough to point them out, amend them and move forward. But we cannot deny the very painful experiences that we see in the media everyday that more than half of our population is subjected to. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as the Attorney-General said earlier on, many communities in this country had a way of dealing with the issue of rape. It is noteworthy that most rapists do not do it only once. It tends to be normal for them. Take my community, for example. We had our own way of dealing with rapists. It was never spoken about. Nobody really told you how it is done. But rapists had a way of disappearing. They just disappeared! Now, if we do not pass this Bill, we are going to encourage these extra-judicial ways of getting rid of rapists. Nobody 844 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES May 2, 2006 in the Meru community would tell you they were killed because nobody talks about it. But they do not exist for long once they are identified. I am sure the same is done in other communities in this country. Therefore, we must pass this Bill. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for us not to support this Bill is to say that I, as a father of daughters and sons, do not care what happens to them. We must remember that the issue of rape does not apply only to women. We must accept the fact that men are also raped by other men. We must accept that small boys could be raped by older men or even older women. This is a very serious issue. In some cases, young boys are molested or sodomised by priests as we know from experiences in America. Thankfully, it has not happened in this country that much. But we do not know for sure because we do not know how many cases go unreported. So, we must ensure that this Bill treats every gender equally. Where we talk about male, we must also include female. The issue of rape or sexual assault applies equally to men and women. I do not think any of us can, with a clear conscience, oppose this Bill given that we have children, grandchildren and mothers in our own homes. How will you feel if your son is sodomised? That will destroy that son forever mentally. How will you feel if your daughter is raped? It will destroy that girl forever. For that reason, the issue of sexual harassment ought to apply equally to boys and girls as well as to men and women. None of us in this House can sleep with a clear conscience if he does not support this Bill. If we have to err, we have to do so in terms of supporting rather than opposing this Bill. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, one of the issues that has been raised is how, after passing this Bill, we will protect the integrity and privacy of the victims. Should we not, perhaps, consider trying these cases in camera to ensure that after being traumatised, we do not expose the victims to more trauma? Is that not something to consider? I would like to suggest to the relevant Departmental Committee and the Mover of this Bill to consider ways of protecting victims of rape and sexual harassment when they appear in court. The intention of this Bill is not to expose such victims to more harassment by society itself, which is not sensitive enough to the problems that are faced. The provisions in the Bill should envisage to ensure that all the evidence pertaining to each such case comes out openly without due embarrassment to those involved. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is quite clear that this Bill tends to concentrate mostly on how the issue of rape and sexual harassment applies to women and girls. That is, perhaps, because the Mover of the Bill, Ms. Ndung'u, is a woman. I think there is something missing; how rape and sexual harassment affect men and boys. I can see her seated on the other side of the House. She is quite busy. I would like to encourage her, through you, to consider very carefully what it means---"
}