CS Matiang'i Breathes Fire over Proposal to Lower Sex Consent Age to 16
Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has broken his silence on the debate about lowering the age for sex consent from 18 to 16 years.
Speaking during a prize-giving ceremony at Pangani Girls High School in Nairobi, Matiang'i said the government will not entertain any attempts to lower the sex consent age.
“I want to assure you we can never be mad enough to support such nonsense regarding the consent age….There is some madness that people engage in that is so difficult to understand,” said Matiang'i.
“How on earth? Ni kazi umekosa? How can we be debating about endangering the lives of our children,” he added.
In March, three Court of Appeal judges proposed an amendment to the Sexual Offences Act to have the age of sex consent set at 16.
Justices Daniel Musinga, Roselyn Nambuye, and Patrick Kiage argued that many other jurisdictions only criminalize sexual conduct with children of below 16 years.
The judges made the proposal after overturning a ruling where a Kenyan man was sentenced to 15 years for impregnating a 15-year-old girl, five years into his jail term and ordered his release.
They 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.
Comments
Kenyans are going crazy. sad…
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Kenyans are going crazy. sad this is even being talked about.
@ Ken Mortley-More so being…
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In reply to Kenyans are going crazy. sad… by ken Motley (not verified)
@ Ken Mortley-More so being talked about by adults who have daughters that age.Does any man really want his 16 year old daughter to consent to sex.To me 18 is till too young. What's wrong with our adults ,expecially the men.Shame on you for entertaining such a thought.
what a shame.
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In reply to @ Ken Mortley-More so being… by maxiley (not verified)
what a shame.
Kenyan's judges (leaders)…
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Kenyan's judges (leaders) are copy cats and should not be trusted. How can they site ruling in United Kingdom to be applied to Kenyan's. How quickly do they forget history. Instead of asking Kenyan parents about how they feel about their kids (asking the guardians), they are validating former slave masters, colonizers, those who maimed, kidnapped, castrated, raped,jailed,hanged and killed our fathers and forefathers. Those who denied our fathers and forefathers education so as to have them as slaves.
These judges are now looking up to them (the west) to decide the fate of our children. How twisted are our minds ? We are yet to uncover the mass graves of our people and bring home the skulls of our leaders taken by the West and recover our cultural artifacts.
Let these judges seek wisdom from those who raise and support our children, not those who come and misuse them.
You so right!
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In reply to Kenyan's judges (leaders)… by Anonymous UI (not verified)
You so right!
The only way this can be…
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The only way this can be resolved is for the Law to explicitly require that if both parties are under 18 years, then they are both eligible to be jailed.
That was just a suggestion…
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That was just a suggestion. Direct that fire at current ills and sins not at imagined ones.
a suggestion? a suggestion…
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In reply to That was just a suggestion… by Guest #13 (not verified)
a suggestion? a suggestion that should never have been made. warrants the ministers attention so we shall address it. bye
Please let us look at the…
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Please let us look at the Origin of this Suggestion. These cases are brought before Judges, and they are the ones who experience, first hand, how the Law is applied. No one is suggesting that girls under 18 should engage in sex. But if the boy is also under 18, then is he not also a 'Child'? Why jail a 16 year old boy for 15 years, because of a consensual act with a girl of similar age? Since the Police only charge boys, even when there is no complainant, the Judges are asking for Universal application of the Law. If both are under 18, and the Act is consensual, then the Law should allow the Judge to jail both of them for 15 years.
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