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{
    "id": 252055,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/252055/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 289,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. M. Kilonzo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 47,
        "legal_name": "Mutula Kilonzo",
        "slug": "mutula-kilonzo"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I apologise for that. \"Esther\" is a very good name, but there you are. The other achievement that this country has attained is education. Hon. Ndung'u described a situation where a sophisticated and educated lady was confronted by a gang which raped her. The gang then told her that they wanted to know what a woman of her status feels like. We cannot accept this! As far as I am concerned, this law must be unanimously adopted subject to those amendments that the Committee is going to recommend for bringing it within the Constitution and eliminating those areas about which people are complaining. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, what are the principal objectives to be achieved in this Bill? One of them is the concept of social responsibility while the other one is modernization or bringing our women into the 21st Century. But let me address the issue of punishment. There are some of us who are going to complain about this draft law thinking that we have imposed very serious high sentences. I have just told you of a decision of a court in England this morning. A person was sentenced to life imprisonment for raping a 10-year-old boy. The purpose of the law we pass here is never to punish, but to define the boundaries of acceptable behaviour. Therefore, I urge hon. Members not to be overwhelmed by the sentences we are imposing in some of the situations. Our argument is that those sentences can only be imposed if you are found guilty of crime. If you behave well, respect our girls and women, approach them nicely while dressed very well and convince them, we have no problem with you. Therefore, we will protect the issues of presumption of innocence through amendments by the Committee. The corroboration must go because if you are not asking a boy to corroborate that he has been raped, why are you asking a girl to corroborate? Are we saying that in Kenya, we believe men but we cannot believe women? I am afraid that law must go! Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me turn to the question of consent itself. One of the most striking cases, as the Attorney-General and hon. Ndung'u would say, is that famous case which was reported in our laws where the woman was confronted by a boy who was holding a knife who demanded: \"Give it to me.\" Then, the boy forced that girl to have sex with him. The issue that went all the way to the Court of Appeal for East Africa was whether consent was given, because the woman did not ask: \"Give you what?\""
}