After a month of heated debate punctuated by a walk-out by female lawmakers, Kenya’s predominantly male national assembly on Wednesday approved a watered-down version of new sex-crimes legislation.
The law, adopted unanimously by the 60 members of the 222-seat Parliament present, boosts penalties for rapists and other sex offenders but drops provisions from earlier drafts that rights activists had deemed key.
Gone from the initial Bill were clauses that would have criminalised marital rape, shifted the burden of proof in rape cases from the accuser to the accused and specifically outlawed forced female circumcision, lawmakers said.
In addition, the law, which must be signed by President Mwai Kibaki before it takes effect, did not include a controversial sentence of castration for rapists included when the Bill was first presented last year, they said.
”It was less than what we had hoped for, but it is more or less a step in the right direction,” said Jane Onyango, chairperson of the Federation of Kenyan Women Lawyers.
”We would have liked to have seen marital rape and female genital mutilation retained in the law, but we hope lawmakers will re-examine these positions in the future with a view to introducing amendments,” she told Agence France-Presse.
Although MPs removed the provision on female circumcision, arguing it was covered by existing laws, the legislation sets the age of consent at 16 and extends jail sentences to five years to life for crimes it covers.
At the same time, Onyango noted that the law also allows alleged rape victims to be questioned about their past sexual conduct and extends criminal punishments to those who file false complaints with the police.
But the Sexual Offences Bill, the first revision to a 76-year-old colonial-era law governing such crimes, was hailed by male legislators, many of whom incurred the wrath of their female colleagues when the debate opened in April.
”Kenyans can still have sex with their partners even when they are asleep so long as they are married,” said MP Kenneth Marende, expressing relief at amendments that removed the marital rape provision.
During a heated debate in April, 12 of Kenya’s 18 women MPs stormed out of the assembly, complaining that some male colleagues had made sexist and derogatory remarks.
The main object of their anger was lawmaker Paddy Ahenda, who suggested the Bill was unfair to men because African women always said ”no” to sex when they really meant ”yes”, unless they were prostitutes.
The debate and Wednesday’s adoption of the Bill comes at a time when human rights groups say sexual violence is soaring in Kenya.
At least half of all Kenyan women 15 and older have experienced sexual violence, with close family members among the perpetrators, according to a survey carried out in 2003. – Sapa-AFP