Sexual Offences: Making Men and Women Responsible

Oh,

An important opportunity was lost into looking into the real issues that confront Kenya as a country today with hardline stances on both sides of parliament! The promoters of the sexual offenses act cared less about the voice of the suffering woman in the village and were passing on their feminist and intellectualisation of sex offenses. They forgot that the important issue they were promoting was "the fact that we wanted to create a responsible society." A society of equal collaborative inter gender partners. However the bill was crafted in a way to connote that they were "going to show case their female power and eventually put men where they belong." This was a wrong attitude and very wrong indeed as the spirit of dialogue was killed before the bill was presented to the parliament.

How could such a fabulous opportunity have escaped Martha Njoka and Karua and ultimately the woman of Kenya? The problem is that the politicians at the centre of the bill concentrated on the glamour of the moment. They became overnight heroes and the media gave them a big attention. This temporary "moments of Glory" made them in essence aggressive thus throwing away caution out of the window and doing away with any ideas that would have made the bill better. I think in the future motions sensitive such as these should be handled with people who have experience and who are more realistic and also have the ability to listen. Women in this caliber include Wangari Maathai (our Nobel Laureate, it is unfortunate she is not in the parliament), Charity Ngilu (an admirable, courageous, simple and down to earth politician. A woman of high integrity), Beth Mugo (she is motherly and careful) amongst other experienced people. Women should understand that when pushing for an agenda, they need to build listening ability and negotiation skills. There is a need to recognize that radicalism will never have a place in a stable and rational (though relative could also mean free and liberal) society like Kenya.

Our society so far is made up of many instances where people never take responsibility for their actions. The bill should have been revised to give duties and responsibilities to every section of the society. A good revision of this bill would have dealt with issues that could have given rise to opportunistinism to both men and women. A bill that looks beyond the iceberg is a rational bill and will certainly be supported. However a bill that provides quasi solutions is a bill badly done and passing it would spell chaos and pandemonium in the country.

The west has developed because of the fact that people take responsibility. All children have both parents and not like in our beloved country, Kenya where children will grow up without ever knowing who their dad was. Let us take many examples of boy children with Names such as Richard Mary or Sammy Nyambura or Felix Naliaka or Omondi Nyalego, their mother's family names is adopted by their children. And they age not ever knowing who their father was. And as they age, these boys become dysfunctional and they perpetuate the same irresponsibility hegemony inherited from their "unknown fathers."

Only a good law would create a condition where the society would be forced to take cognizance of its primary responsibilities. And a good law should not be replaced for short term fixes that would be bent on creating more legal pandemonium to our society today.

I do not support emotionalism in important matters such as this. Women should not allow themselves to be referred as noisemakers as this will derail their agendas e.g. in http://wherehermadnessresides.blogspot.com/2006/05/sexual-offences-bill.html.
They should however stand up and present rationalized and well reasoned arguments. Emotional arguments are full of weaknesses but well reasoned arguments are in essence beyond reproach.

Lastly, this bill should be thoroughly revised. It should not be rushed to be passed as a motion. Let it not be done for individual glory but for the overall long term well being of Kenyan family and society. Let it ensure that it has taken place all the concerns of the society and addressed them.