Women leaders call on Judiciary to deal with sex offenders
Three women legislators have petitioned the Judiciary to come up with extreme measures to punish sex offenders.
Suba North MP Millie Odhiambo, Homa Bay Woman Representative Joyce Osogo and her Kisumu counterpart Ruth Odinga said the Judiciary is an integral agency that can help reduce escalating cases of defilement in the country.
Defilement remains a major challenge in various counties, among them Narok and Homa Bay which are ranked top in teenage pregnancies in the latest Kenya Demographic and Health Survey report.
Statistics show that Homa Bay teen pregnancy prevalence stands at 24 per cent.
It is against this backdrop that MPs want the Judiciary to exercise severe punishment on sexual offenders as a way of curbing the vice.
Odhiambo asked the Judiciary to punish sexual offenders severely to cushion school girls from sex pests.
She said such stringent legal measures will discourage perpetrators of sexual crimes hence reduce cases of defilement. “Many school girls continue to suffer defilement despite the existence of legal framework meant to protect them. Let the Judiciary deliver judgements which are more severe to sexual offences culprits,” Odhiambo said.
She expressed concern over an incident in which a four-year-old girl from Suba South Constituency was defiled and is currently undergoing surgery at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Hospital in Kisumu. “It’s hurting that a man who is in his normal senses can injure a child to that extent. We want stern action taken against sexual offenders,” she emphasised.
Serious obstacle
Osogo argued that defilement has become a serious obstacle to girl child education, noting that some teenage girls drop out of school after becoming pregnant.
She asked girls, especially the adolescents, to be cautious with people who have turned into sex pests and are out to lure them to sexual advances. “Let our girls resist attempts to be engaged in premature sex as it could adversely affect their lives and education,” Osogo said.
Odinga expressed concern over some cases where teachers have been reported having sex with school girls. She cited a recent incident in which a teacher was accused of impregnating a student and defiling others in a school within Rangwe constituency, Homa Bay county.
