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{
    "id": 486598,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/486598/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 292,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Gichigi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1909,
        "legal_name": "Samuel Kamunye Gichigi",
        "slug": "samuel-kamunye-gichigi"
    },
    "content": "I am hoping that the relevant Committee and the people who appear to be very jittery on the issue of this Bill will come up with the necessary amendments. If they do not come up with those amendments, clearly the mood in this House is that this Bill is going to die. So, let us remove the 75 per center part of this Bill which is bad and retain the 25 per cent that is actually good. Hon. Speaker, this House is not the House of Congress of America. This is a Kenyan House. We must make sure that we do not import certain laws from abroad, word for word, thinking that they are going to fit the context of this particular country. Further, it is important that we do not create conflicts of law. What am I saying? There are so many laws that have criminalized female genital mutilation and sexual violence. We have criminal laws that are dealing with this. Let us not, without amending the other laws, add another law that is in conflict with what is already there. I am hoping that I am going to see an amendment that is going to deal with what is creating domestic violence in this country. Hon. Members, when your kid--- Like now they are on holidays. When we leave them at home, what is it that they are watching? They are watching violence and nudity from morning till they go to sleep. In fact, you have to chase them after about 10.00 p.m. and tell them that those movies are not for kids. So, the truth of the matter is that they end up adopting the violence that they see on TV. They take those fellows and actors as their role models. So, what is wrong? If the kid saw somebody being strangled and the person who did it emerges as a hero, why would they not repeat it when they grow up? That is what is happening. Let us deal with the problems in this particular Bill. What is happening to that child? When I came to Nairobi for my university education, I met some fellows in the streets. There were children and something was disturbing me. I was asking myself: “The kid we are leaving on the street, when they grow up, what are they going to become? Are they going to become ordinary citizens of this country? What did we do for them?” We could collect them and throw them away from town and within a week or so, they would be back. Those are the people who are giving us serious problems. Those are the issues that this Bill should be addressing. Just forget about calling your in-laws. I am meant to understand that there were serious issues when this matter was before the relevant Committee. Let us not call our in-laws and criminalize the relationships. Let us not criminalize every other thing that is happening in the house. I do not think people get married to become enemies. They get married to become friends. If we have challenges in that relationship, let us not always come up with a law to deal with that particular issue. There are very many things in this country that we cannot create a law for. So, I would suggest to the Committee to remove the criminal aspects in this law and put them where they belong - in the other criminal laws that we have in this country. Leave the supportive system that this legislation attempts to create to give assistance to the victims of domestic violence in this country. So, while I support the 25 per cent, I am saying and I will repeat what others have said – that if the 75 cent that is wrong is not dealt with, I will be shouting the loudest to oppose this Bill."
}