Court of Appeal judges Roselyn Nambuye, Daniel Musinga and Patrick Kiage propose lowering of sex consent age to 16 years

Court proposes new sex consent age

Mark Mwithaga

March 26, 2019 10:21 AM

This should be the age

Kenyan High court.

Three Court of Appeal judges proposed a change to the Sexual Offences Act that will see the sex consent age lowered.

The Judges Roselyn Nambuye, Daniel Musinga and Patrick Kiage suggested that the age should be lowered to 16 years.

Judge Roselyn Nambuye Pulse Live Kenya

The recommendation came after a ruling in the case of Eliud Waweru, who had been jailed after he impregnated a 17 year-old-girl.

According to the magistrates, the discussion over reducing the consent age is something that needs to be addressed immediately as it has been prolonged for a long time as reported by Standard.

They noted that it was unfair that many men are serving jail terms for sleeping with teenagers who had agreed to the act.

“Our prisons are teeming with young men serving lengthy sentences for having had sexual intercourse with adolescent girls whose consent has been held to be immaterial because they were under 18 years,” pointed out the Judges.

During the hearing, the judges overturned a 15-year sentence that had been given to Waweru after serving eight years of the jail term.

The man had been arrested after he failed to honour part of a deal that had been struck between him and the father of the daughter who he slept with.

Parliament withdraws proposal

In February 2017, the government had dropped the proposal that was presented before the National Assembly.

Speaker of Parliament Justin Muturi withdrew the recommendations after female MPs were angered by the motion.

National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi during a past event ece-auto-gen

The then Majority Whip Katoo Ole Metito however had suggested the introduction of the Romeo and Juliet clause as an alternative.

“In order to cure this, we shall be introducing a provision at the committee stage relative to the offence of defilement in order to avoid the perceived victimisation of boys under the Act when they engage in sexual activity with their age-mates referred to… you remember the Romeo and Juliet situation,” remarked Metito.

Mark Mwithaga