MP seeks amendment of Sexual Offences Act

Kenya Women Parliamentary Association (Kewopa) chairperson Gathoni Wamuchomba has sought for amendment of the Sexual Offences Act (2006) to introduce stringent regulations on handling sexual assault evidence.

The Kiambu Women Representative had earlier sought to legislate the strict measures through her Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence Bill (2019).

She said the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee advised her to instead incorporate the provisions in the existing Sexual Offences Act through amendments.

“The Amendments were to be tabled in Parliament before the outbreak of coronavirus (disease) but that is scheduled to happen once we resume,” she told the Nation by phone on Wednesday.

She said clear guidelines on protection of forensic evidence on sexual assault would eliminate incidents of sudden disappearance of crucial information necessary to prosecution of sexual offences.

“Loss of evidence on sexual assault is so rampant in Kenya and we must address that problem,” she said.

“You will hear cases of OCS 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 added.

To ensure the evidence collected is well protected, Ms Wamuchomab has proposed development of an electronic system to be managed by the Directorate of the Criminal Investigations (DCI).

SECRET NUMBER

“The electronic system will involve a victim getting a chip with a secret number. The number is registered on a mobile application accessible to the victim,” she explained.

“The victim is able to log into the application and track his or her case. Information like results from Government Chemist, progress made by Office of Directorate of Public Prosecutions, case number or whether the doctor’s report has been received, will all be made available to the victim,” she said.

The MP said each testing kit for sexual assault would have its own chip given to the respective survivor.

Ms Wamuchomba said the chip would aid in collecting data on hourly and daily occurrences of sexual assaults across the country.

“This is because the number of chips given out equals the number of cases happening,” she said.

She added that she will propose that all Level Three hospitals and above are provided with the testing kits as a measure of localising collection of evidence on sexual assaults.

During a July 1 webinar themed Improving Access to Justice for Women and Girls during Covid-19 and beyond, Vice President of Kenya Women Judges Association Justice Hellen Wasilwa said e-filing of cases would fast-track conclusion of sexual offences.

Electronic registration of cases within the Nairobi region started on July 1, and the Judiciary plans to roll out the system to the rest of the country to ease the citizens’ access to justice.

“Issues of files getting lost will be a thing of the past. It will be impossible to steal an e-file. And one is able to track progress of the file online,” she said during the webinar organised by Centre for Rights Education and Awareness (Creaw).