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"id": 460133,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Waiganjo",
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"legal_name": "John Muriithi Waiganjo",
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"content": "Thank you, hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I wish to thank and congratulate hon. Fatuma for her courage to bring forth this very important Adjournment Motion; also, for her determination to rein in on sex predators, paedophiles and rapists. It is clear that our country has degenerated or a section of our society has degenerated to very low levels and you would call them animals. Actually, they put the animal kingdom to shame. The Sex Offences Act outlines various forms of sexual offences and it is important, while debating this Motion, to look at the Act because most people are ignorant of it. I notice that hon. Fatuma has mentioned a few of them in her Motion, but I hasten to add that apart from rape, there is also attempted rape, which is also in the Sexual Offences Act. There is also sexual assault which is a very serious offence against women. There are also compelled or induced incest acts. Obviously, this House knows that the offence of incest is rampant and happens at the confines of our families and houses. These are offences that are rarely reported to the police. There is defilement, which is very painful as it happens to small children, even as young as three years. Then there is attempted defilement. These are offences that never even get their way to our courts and when they do, it is very difficult for the rapist to get a conviction. An attempted defiler or rapist is the one who rapes when they get another opportunity. There is gang rape and indecent acts with children or adults. There is also the promotion of sexual offences with children, which is also a very serious offence that happens every day. There is child trafficking, sex child tourism, child prostitution and pornography. All these are offences that happen everyday within our society and none of them, if any, gets to our courtrooms. Of course, we will not forget the spousal rape that also happens within the confines of our bedrooms. But why do we have all these offences? I notice hon. Fatuma is aware that the Sexual Offences Act is a very elaborate piece of legislation, but unfortunately, it is never enforced. The reasons why there is no enforcement of some of these laws is the way our criminal justice system works. For instance, when a report of a sex offence is reported to a police station, and of course, we know that most of our police stations are manned by male police officers, the moment the offence gets to occurrence book (OB), it is probably recorded by a male officer. Then the matter goes to the Officer Commanding Crime, who is also a male officer, then the Officer Commanding Crime allots the matter to an investigating officer, who is also male. By the time the rapist gets to court, the court is presided over by a magistrate who is a male, the court clerk is a male and the defence counsel is male. The victim is female and the most of our courts do not even hear these matters in the chambers because there are no chambers in the far flung areas. So, how do you expect a rape victim to stand in the dock and get cross-examined by the rapist himself? Therefore, most of the victims hardly report to the police station and the matters hardly get to court. It is important that while we debate this Motion, we urge certain communities which condone such acts by settling such crimes out of the criminal justice system to take them to court. Action should be taken against parents, elders, chiefs or whoever it is that decides to settle sexual offences outside the criminal justice system. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}