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{
    "id": 720281,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/720281/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 116,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Dr.) Nyongesa",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 132,
        "legal_name": "Paul Nyongesa Otuoma",
        "slug": "paul-otuoma"
    },
    "content": "Having stated the main objective of this Bill, we would like to see whether the amendments that we will propose to the principal Act really support those three main objectives. One of the amendment that has been talked about so much is trying to define what indecent behaviour is. I want to add to what my colleagues have said that we need to be a bit careful when we define what indecent behaviour really is. We know that within the diversity of our cultures, there are some places where what you may call indecent exposure may not really be indecent exposure in other communities. If you went to Turkana and parts of Pokot and even some of the places where you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, come from, the Dorobo community, there is some kind of dressing that may look indecent or inappropriate to others but within those communities, because of the cultural setup, is not seen indecent. We need to be very careful. In other communities, that would be indecent. We are also living in a global environment. You may find if you go to the coast, where people are at the beach, they are dressed in bikinis and are sunbathing. In other places you may take that to be indecent exposure but it is acceptable there because of the environment that has been created in terms of tourism. If we just come up with very generalised laws that define indecent exposure, we may water down the main objective of this Bill which was to prevent collusion and stop repeated perpetrators of sexual offences. The other amendment is where it states that if somebody has been a sexual offender and he is looking for employment, the employer must know if this person is a repeat offender. How would you know unless there is a national register and it is obligatory for the employer to go into that register and check if somebody is a sexual offender? It will be very important if that register is established through this amendment. I hope my sister, Florence Mutua, is listening. I know she is being over-engaged by Gladys Wanga. I hope that she is listening to some of the proposals that we are putting forward. We need a register which we can check. Last but not least, today, with modern technology, people are sending a lot of indecent material on social media and even on WhatsApp groups. If you are a member of that group, those materials may unknowingly end up in your phone. I know there are some countries where the administrators of those various groups will be held accountable. How are you held accountable for an independent adult who decides to send his own literature or photos on those kinds of platforms? We need to be very careful when we talk about distribution of pornographic material. There must be a proper law that clearly defines or stipulates who carries the burden when that kind of material makes its way to social media or platforms that are shared within groups instead of victimising the group administrator yet he cannot censor the material that is coming in. By the time it comes on, some people have already downloaded and circulated it. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I am saying this because I have seen in some platforms materials about small domestic quarrels posted in social media and, maybe, these people agree and try to bring down some of that material that has been posted. But, you will find that there are various groups that have already photoshopped these things and they are distributing them after adding their own things. Even exposure of indecent behaviour happens, and I am sure some colleagues here have been victims of those kinds of things where their private lives have been put out there in the social media without their knowledge. So, we must come up with a law that properly puts the burden of who is the real offender in that kind of situation."
}