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{
    "id": 697512,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/697512/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 217,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Okoth",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 12482,
        "legal_name": "Kenneth Odhiambo Okoth",
        "slug": "kenneth-odhiambo-okoth"
    },
    "content": "executioner, and cases of mob justice. But we have to think through the context. It is an issue that has bothered people in my constituency. Often times, young men predominantly accused of crime in Kibra Constituency and many places like Mathare and Korogocho, are arrested by the police and their cases are supposed to be processed. As soon as they get bail, they come back to the community and intimidate witnesses and the cases are dropped, which leads to a high sense of frustration and miscarriage of justice and therefore, the society loses faith in the system. The witnesses do not testify because of harassment, consequently they withdraw the cases and crime seems to continue. There is a sense of victimhood. That desperation leads some citizens in the constituency to engage in acts of mob justice and lack of mercy. They say: “We do not trust the due process and we will take the law into our hands.” We should make sure we have a robust witness protection regime in this country which makes sense. It should be practicable, well-funded and that which applies at all levels, from the issues of petty crimes. I have given examples of Kibra where, if witnesses are protected cases can proceed in a proper manner and witnesses can testify and it would make a huge difference and promote the question of access to justice. On the global level, the questions of access to justice and the rule of law are not new. It is actually an international issue being debated now. Just two weeks ago, the world community converged in New York to discuss the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Goal No. 16 pertains to the rule of law and access to justice. This is an issue that, for me as a member of the Huma Rights Caucus, is very critical. We recently passed the Access to Information Act in this country. I must applaud the Members of the 11th Parliament and members of the Human Rights Caucus who made sure we pushed through and passed the Legal Aid Act. Access to justice and the rule of law issues are very fundamental for sustainable development when you think about it holistically. Kenya was a champion last year in leading the agreement of the community of nations to the UN SDGs. As we marked the first year of those goals, I think it is high time the National Assembly created a Select Committee or a special caucus on the SDGs, which will look into not just this goal on the question of access to justice and the rule of law, but also into other important goals such as the right to food, elimination of extreme poverty, quality housing, access to education and gender equity. These are important issues under the SDGs arena. I think the House will be well served to do so. I like this Bill because it matters in the contribution towards goal No. 16 on access to justice. I will give you another story in our headlines right now. Without proper mechanism of witness protection, a lot of cases end up with intimidation. The Member for Juja has just given the example of issues of land cases. He spoke very articulately about that. But it is even in cases of rape. Hon. Muhia has also mentioned those issues. Today the headlines in our media are about Members of the Kisii County Assembly who, it seems, engaged in statutory rape by spending weekends away and doing things that I cannot mention on record with underage school girls. This is what is called statutory rape. Without attorneys acting in brief and watching over that case carefully, those girls are at risk of being intimidated by these powerful MCAs and community forces to make sure that they drop their complaints or they do not appear as witnesses and let the case collapse. We need this law to work well so that the course of justice can run. The girl-child and all other vulnerable members of society who may seek justice in Kenya, but have major fears must be protected. 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."
}