Nairobi County Woman Representative Esther Passaris.
A proposal to hand culprits found guilty of sextortion (extortion linked to sexual favours) a sentence of 15 years imprisonment and a fine of Sh5 million or both have been rejected by a House committee.
The National Assembly committee on public petitions in its report tabled in the House says the crime is already covered in the current Sexual Offences Act and Computer Misuse and Cybercrime Act, 2018
According to the committee, enacting another stand-alone legislation to deal with sextortion would lead to duplication of existing laws.
“The committee rejects the proposal to amend the Sexual Offences Act (Cap. 63A) and other relevant criminal laws to explicitly define sextortion as an offence, make clear provisions on penalties, support for victims and for connected purposes,” reads the committee report.
Sextortion is defined as the abuse of a person’s power to give or withhold goods, services or any other thing of value in exchange for sexual favours.
The committee in its report argued that the aspects of sextortion are adequately provided in section 43 of the Sexual Offences Act.
According to the committee, elements of sextortion can be construed with other offences such as sexual harassment, abuse of authority and coercion under the Sexual Offences Act hence enacting another legislation would duplicate the Sexual Offences Act and the Computer Misuse and Cybercrime Act.
The committee also faulted the petition pointing out that the petitioners failed to disclose the specific aspects of sextortion that the Sexual Offences Act and section 37 of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrime Act, 2028 did not cover.
“Therefore the committee did not identify a gap in the existing law to necessitate the enactment of the proposed legislation,” reads the report.
The National Assembly during a past session.
In a petition presented to the National Assembly last year by Nairobi Woman Representative Esther Passaris on behalf of other concerned Kenyans proposed a sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment and a fine of Sh5 million or both for those found guilty of sextortion.
The petitioners had prayed that parliament should come up with amendments to the Sexual Offences Act and other relevant criminal laws so as to explicitly define sextortion as an offence and make clear provisions on penalties.
In the petition, Ms Passaris on behalf of other concerned citizens argued that the demand for sex in exchange for essential resources, services and opportunities is both an infringement of human rights and a significant obstacle to achieving development goals predicated on gender equality, transparent and accountable governance.
According to the petitioners, the law currently does not specifically recognise or define sextortion as a form of sexual exploitation, harassment and corruption thus hindering prosecution and victim protection.
The petitioners told Parliament that sextortion affects vulnerable women and girls due to poverty, lack of education, political disenfranchisement and various forms of disability.
The petitioners averred that unchecked prevalence of sextortion not only afflicts immediate harm upon individuals but also undermines efforts to empower women and ensure their full and equal participation in society hence impedes sustainable development.
They expressed concern that women in informal settlements at 41 percent were victims of sextortion while in rural areas especially those in Western Kenya have also expressed cases of sex for water.
Female politicians in Kenya have been vulnerable to image-based disinformation campaigns that manipulate the media to sexualise them. This makes them fodder for extortion.
While the trend is common against women, men have also been victims of this form of sextortion.
In her submission to the committee, the Attorney General pointed out that Sexual Offences Act Cap63A provides for sexual offences, their definition, prevention and the protection of all persons from harm from unlawful sexual acts.
According to the Attorney General, sextortion is a sexual offence as it amounts to intentionally demanding sexual intercourse or other sexual activities in exchange for goods, services or any other thing of value in the demanding person’s power to give or withhold.
Attorney General Dorcas Oduor addresses journalists during the unveiling of the Government Critical Litigation and Loss Mitigation Review Committee on May 29, 2025 at the State Law Office in Nairobi.
The Attorney General in her submission argued that since sextortion is the abuse of a person’s power to give or withhold goods, services or any other thing of value in exchange of sexual intercourse or other sexual activities, it amounts to an intentional and unlawful Act as prescribed under section 43 of the Sexual Offences Act.
Section 42(1) (a) of the Sexual Offences Act provides that an act is intentional and unlawful if it is committed in any coercive circumstance.
Further section 43 (2) (c) provides that the coercive circumstances include any circumstances where there is abuse of power or authority to the extent that the person in respect of whom an act is committed is inhibited from indicating his or her resistance to such an act or his or her unwillingness to participate in such an act.
Section 23 of the Sexual Offences Act provides that any person who, being in a position of authority or holding a public office, persistently makes any sexual advances or requests which he or she knows or has reasonable grounds to know are unwelcome, is guilty of the offence of sexual harassment.
Further section 24 of the Sexual Offences Act provides that any person who, being in a position of authority or trust takes advantage of his or her position and induces or seduces a person in their care or under their authority to have sexual intercourse commits an offence.
However, other stakeholders who appeared before the committee however told the lawmakers that it was going to be difficult to prosecute sextortion since the existing legislation does not define it or recognise it as a form of sexual offence.
The closet offence to sextortion in the law is the sexual harassment under section 23 of the Sexual Offences Act Cap.63A. However, the offence of sexual harassment is limited to instances of employment, education and services offered by public officials, this leaves victims of other types of predators vulnerable.
Section 37 of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrime Act Cap 79C criminalises the publishing or distribution of intimate or obscene images of other people without consent.
However, the action does not provide the extortion and blackmail that may be employed with the threats of publishing such images.
While the actual publishing is an offence, victims may not wish to have such images published hence they give in to the extortionists’ demands.
