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{
    "id": 486208,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/486208/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 329,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Chepkong’a",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1154,
        "legal_name": "Samuel Kiprono Chepkonga",
        "slug": "samuel-kiprono-chepkonga"
    },
    "content": "benefits of social order, and shall enjoy the recognition and protection of the State. So, the word that was lifted out of the Constitution is “protection” because the State recognizes that the family unit needs to be protected. By way of summary, because of the issues that have been raised around this Bill, I decided to do general research in the internet just to see what other countries think about domestic violence. We thought that, because we did not have a Bill on domestic violence, other countries which are more developed do not have this serious problem that we have in our countries. I thought that these offences were only found in developing and least developed countries. To my own surprise, when I was researching I came across this article that was written by the National Institute of Justice and the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention--- They carried out a survey on violence nationally against women in 2000. This was conducted in the USA. I did not expect this in the USA because it is a well developed society, where in terms of disposable income, there are big incomes that would generally, in promotion of gender love in the homestead--- But the statistics are very grim. What they found out is that the consequences of domestic violence can occur across generations and last a lifetime of individuals. The few statistics that I was able to gather stated this about the USA society itself. They say that one in every four women will experience domestic violence in their lifetime. An estimated 1.3 million women are victims of physical assault by an intimate partner each year. We are talking about developed countries, where 85 per cent of domestic violence victims are women. Historically, females have been the most victimized by someone they know; we have seen this even in our own society. There was a case in my constituency the other day in which a young man was killed; he was found in a house of a lady he was trying to court. Then there was another gentleman who was trying to court that same young lady and he was so angry. That was a love triangle. He was so angry and killed that young man. It was a very unfortunate situation, it happened last week. Most cases of domestic violence are never reported to the police, including even in the USA. This is worse in Kenya. Most of these cases are never reported. In fact, this research goes further to indicate that one in six women and one in 33 men have experienced an attempted or completed rape. So, this Bill is not about women. It is about a family. This research further found that one in 12 women and one in 45 men have been stalked in their lifetimes. So stalking is not only with respect to women, even men face it. They have also been stalked in the past. In the USA, the cost of domestic violence is mind boggling. They say the cost of intimate partner violence exceeds US$5.8 billion each year. We have very many here in Kenya who have been violated. In fact, the – it is important for hon. Members to know – victims of intimate partner violence lost almost eight million days of paid work because of the violence perpetrated against them by current or former boyfriends. This is equivalent of more than 32,000 full time jobs, and almost 5.6 days of household productivity as a result of violence. Because of violence, these people have suffered mental anguish, and so it is important that we pass this Bill. 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."
}