Failed attempts: Women MPs’ long fight for sexual offences amendments
From left: Leaders including Esther Passaris, Florence Mutua, and Gathoni Wamuchomba have pushed for tougher laws to safeguard sexual assault evidence. Their attempts have all faced resistance in Parliament.
What you need to know:
- Survivors of sexual violence in Kenya often face justice denied when case files and forensic evidence disappear, derailing prosecutions and silencing victims.
- MP Gathoni Wamuchomba is reviving her proposed amendments to the Sexual Offences Act, which seek to safeguard forensic evidence and digitise case tracking.
Six years ago, a 13-year-old girl was defiled in Busia by the son of a military officer. The suspect’s father attempted to bribe his son’s way out of the crime by offering the girl’s family Sh200,000. They refused.
Suddenly, the bedsheet and clothing used during the assault disappeared from the exhibits store at the police station, along with the case file. That marked the end of her pursuit of justice.
It is this persistent loss of files in sexual offence cases that Githunguri Member of Parliament (MP) Gathoni Wamuchomba sought to address in her proposed amendment to the Sexual Offences Act (2006) in 2020 – then serving as Kiambu Woman Representative. She had earlier attempted to introduce strict measures through her Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence Bill (2019).
However, the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee advised her to incorporate the provisions into the Sexual Offences Act through amendments. Her proposals included clear guidelines on the protection of forensic evidence in sexual assault cases to eliminate the sudden disappearance of crucial information necessary for prosecutions.
“Loss of evidence on sexual assault is so rampant in Kenya and we must address that problem,” she said at the time. “You will hear cases of OCSs (officers commanding stations) saying, ‘I don’t know where the file is,’ or you will be told there is no exhibit because the medical report is missing.”
She also proposed the development of an electronic system to be managed by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations. “The electronic system will involve a victim receiving a chip with a secret number. The number is registered on a mobile application accessible to the victim.
“The victim can then log into the application and track his or her case. Information such as results from the Government Chemist, updates from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, the case number, or whether the doctor’s report has been received will all be made available to the victim,” she said.
The Bill was gazetted but never reached the First Reading. Now, the Githunguri MP says she intends to revive it and reintroduce it in the National Assembly. This reintroduction would come hot on the heels of the rejection of another attempt to amend the same law to expressly outlaw sextortion.
That amendment, presented in 2024 through a petition by Nairobi Woman Representative Esther Passaris, was tabled on behalf of concerned citizens who wanted explicit recognition of sextortion as a sexual offence with appropriate punishment for perpetrators.
The Public Petitions Committee, however, rejected the prayers on the grounds that existing provisions in the Sexual Offences Act, alongside the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act (2018), already covered the offence.
Eight years earlier, then Busia Woman Representative Florence Mutua had also introduced amendments, including the prohibition of plea bargaining and the expansion of definitions of sexual harassment. She proposed that any person initiating or conniving to conceal a sexual offence would face a five-year jail term or a fine of Sh500,000.
Her amendment further sought to criminalise soliciting money, domestic animals, or property as compensation from suspects, marrying off victims to offenders, obstructing police investigations, or distorting evidence.
In addition, she had proposed criminalising unwarranted touching of another person’s genitalia, breasts, or buttocks. This proposal was vehemently opposed by male legislators, who claimed it was punitive and could be misused to victimise men. In the end, the majority of male MPs voted it down at the Second Reading.
Meanwhile, the fight continues, with Ms Wamuchomba now seeking to revive her amendments.
