Court of Appeals Proposes Lowering of Sex Consent Age in Kenya to 16 Years, Parents React

A recent proposal by three Court of Appeal judges to have the age of sex consent in the country lowered from 18 to 16 years has elicited a heated debate.

The judges; Daniel Musinga, Roselyn Nambuye, and Patrick Kiage want an amendment made to the Sexual Offences Act to lower the age for sexual consent.

This comes after the three judges overturned a ruling where a man was sentenced to 15 years for impregnating a 15-year-old girl, five years into his jail term and ordered his release.

In their ruling, the judges have questioned the penal provisions in the Sexual Offences Act No.3 of 2006.

In their March 22nd, 2019 judgment, the three cite many other jurisdictions that criminalize only sexual conduct with children below 16 years.

They also referenced their ruling to the reasoning applied when the House of Lords in the United Kingdom heard the case of a woman against a doctor who offered contraceptives to five 15-year-old girls without their parents' consent.

Their proposal has, however, been dismissed by parents and children's rights groups, who argue that lowering the age of sexual consent would expose young girls to the difficulties associated with early pregnancies, motherhood, and early marriage.

“Why do we want to force children to become adults, when they are not? I do not see the motivation of that proposal,” says Alex Rithi from Nairobi.

Others argue the proposal would curtail the girls' right to education.

John Chigiti, a children’s advocate, says: “What sex will do is expose these kids to abortion, change them from the classroom and put them in maternity wards and this will interfere with the reproductive health of that child."

He adds:" If we reduce to 16 years we will reduce it to 15 years the other year and 12 years the other year."