men can be rape

By Mwangi Githahu

March 24, 2005: For the first time in Kenya's legal history men and boys could be recognised as legitimate victims of rape. Until now, Kenya's laws have only recognised women and girls as victims of rape.

This un equal situation could be about to come to an end if Nominated MP Njoki Ndungu gets her way and manages to steer her proposed Sexual Offences Bill through parliament.

Ms Ndungu who sits on the government benches and whose many interests include women and youth matters, has been working on the Sexual Offences Bill for the best part of the last two years in parliament. During this time she has had to fight prejudice and ignorance from critics and others, who misunderstood some of the things the Bill will be pushing for.

The proposed piece of legislation is seen as timely now because in Kenya recently, there has been a shocking rise in reports of incest, rape and other sexual offences over the past few years.

Over two and a half months since the beginning of the year, hardly has a day gone by without a media report about rape or defilement, and many victims are babies.

More than 32 cases of rape have been reported in newspapers so far this year. Twelve victims were minors, two of them aged four. Five were boys aged between five and nine years, and seven were teenage girls.

Ms Ndungu's is a crusade to stop this appalling trend in sex abuse. She wants to revolutionise the way sexual offences are classified and handled. She wants the public to understand that it is not just girls and women who can be victims; the law must recognise that boys and men too are abused.

This April, Ms Ndung'u will table the Sexual Offences Bill and hopes it will be law by the end of the year.

Speaking to this correspondent recently, Ms Ndung'u said she has the support of the Attorney-General's office.

As the bill is a non-political and non-partisan issue, Ms Ndung'u expects the support of the majority in the House. She has been quietly lobbying her colleagues and helping fellow MPs to understand the issues in the proposed law, which was quickly demonised as the "Castration Bill" when first touted.

Ms Ndung'u explained that when she first talked about the proposed Bill, she mentioned "castration" and her intentions were widely misinterpreted. "I was talking about chemical and not physical castration".

She explained: "Chemical castration is very effective for treating disorder in men who cannot control their sexual urges, especially against children". Ms Ndung'u said chemical castration had proven quite effective in the US state of Florida.

She explained that chemical castration is a term used to describe treatment with a drug called Depo-Provera that, when given to men, acts on the brain to inhibit hormones that stimulate the testicles to produce testosterone.

Depo-Provera is a common birth control pill and contains a synthetic version of the female hormone progesterone. Advocates of chemical castration hope that injections of Depo-Provera would prevent sexual perverts from molesting children in particular.

Asked if the majority of her colleagues, who are men, might see the proposed Bill as hostile to them, Ms Ndung'u, a lawyer by profession, said: "The Sexual Offences Bill will introduce a proper definition of rape and protect boys and men as well as girls and women."

Said added: "It is not a man-hating bill at all. We are trying to protect men too by recognising that they can be raped. The Bill is about protecting the whole society, both male and female."

"There are increasing cases of rape committed during car-jackings, hijackings, muggings and violent robberies in homes. These will be classified as 'aggravated rape'."

Ms Ndung'u advocates harsh minimum sentence to deter rapists and other sexual offenders.

The one-time state counsel explained: "Although there are laws laid down for certain offences, that latitude given to magistrates is being misused. So the introduction of a minimum punishment for a first offender, a second offender, those who have defiled children, etc, would be critical.

"I want to see criminals charged with sexual offences imprisoned for a long time. I have proposed the minimal sentence for first offenders be 15 years and more for repetitive rapists. I have proposed that criminals who prey on children, old women and the disabled get a minimum 30 years in jail."

In addition, Ms Ndung'u wants paedophiles (those who prey on children) to be publicly noted once they are released from jail "so that those living in the same area would know and act accordingly to protect their children".

The legislator wants to drop the requirement that victims of rape first report to the police. "I want to make it possible for victims to go straight to hospital and seek treatment against any sexually transmitted infections, especially HIV/Aids. The Bill will propose that the burden of proof be shifted from the victim to the perpetrator. I want to introduce free compulsory treatment and counselling services for rape victims."