Kenyans posting stripping videos risk arrest and prosecution — Waiguru

Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru addresses reporters in the past. She has said mandatory paramilitary training may be introduced for all students who wish to join public universities in Kenya. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Matatu owners will also suffer as their vehicles will be impounded, while drivers risk losing their licences if members of staff are found culpable.
  • Drivers will be required to report to the nearest police station when a stripping incident occurs in their vehicle so as to avoid punishment.
  • The resolution was adopted by the Ministry of Devolution, which will help train drivers and conductors on women's rights and discipline.

Kenyans posting to the web videos and pictures of women being attacked and undressed in public risk being arrested and prosecuted, Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru has warned.

Matatu saccos whose drivers and conductors are involved in the crime will be blacklisted and their licences revoked, following rules agreed on by the concerned players.

The ministry, the Matatu Owners Association (Moa), The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the Police Service, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations and Maendeleo ya Wanawake agreed on the stringent rules in an effort to curb the stripping and sexual assault of women.

Matatu owners will also suffer as their vehicles will be impounded, while drivers risk losing their licences if members of staff are found culpable.

Speaking on Friday at a press briefing, Ms Waiguru said the perpetrators of the incidents cannot go free.

“If a woman is stripped in a matatu, the vehicle will be grounded, the measures will be taken against the sacco and it will also be grounded,” she said.

The ministry will work with other ministries, including the one responsible for registering saccos, to ensure that the measures are adhered to, said Ms Waiguru.

In the resolution, Moa will have the full responsibility of handing over to the police conductors or members of staff suspected of harassing women.

AVOID PUNISHMENT

Drivers will be required to report to the nearest police station when a stripping incident occurs in their vehicle so as to avoid punishment.

The association will be responsible for disciplining staff who carry out such heinous acts, including sacking them.

The resolution was adopted by the Ministry of Devolution, which will help to train drivers and conductors on women's rights and discipline.

On Thursday, the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) called on the owners of commuter buses where harassment of women had occurred to share the responsibility with the rogue touts.

The authority argued that if public service vehicle owners allow the touts to operate at the terminals where their buses pick up passengers, they should also be held accountable.

“When we get to the owners of the vehicles, they claim those who committed the crimes are not their employees, but if someone is to operate at the terminal where your vehicle picks (up) clients, then you have to take responsibility,” NTSA chairman Lee Kinyanjui said.

There has been a rise recently in cases of women being forcefully undressed in public.

A protest was held on November 17 after a group of touts, allegedly from the Embassava bus company, which plies the Embakasi route, attacked and stripped a woman over claims that she was dressed indecently.

Another incident occurred in Mombasa, where a woman wearing blue tights was stripped.

Videos of the incidents went viral on the Internet, prompting protests.

A young woman was also stripped at the Mihango stage in Nairobi’s Kayole estate by touts, with yet another being indecently assaulted in a matatu in the same area allegedly by an Administrative Police corporal, Christopher Gathara, and a tout, Mr Samuel Ngugi.

The latest incident was reported in Githurai, where unruly matatu crew members stripped and sexually assaulted a female passenger.

UNDERCOVER OFFICERS

Mr Kinyanjui said the authority would conduct thorough investigations into the matter but called on PSV owners to professionalise their workforce.

He added that NTSA would be introducing undercover officers especially along the notorious Kayole and Dandora routes to curb the incidents.

This comes as the country joined the world in marking a 16-day campaign against gender-based violence aimed at eliminating all forms of violence against women.

An increase in all forms of gender violence in Kenya led to the enactment of the Sexual Offences Act of 2006.

About 45 per cent of Kenyan women aged 15 to 49 have experienced physical or sexual violence, including "forced sexual initiation", according to the 2008–9 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey.

FEW CONVICTIONS

However, very few convictions have been made, as less than 20 per cent of the assaults are reported to the authorities.

On Friday, Deputy Inspector-General of Police Grace Kaindi called on all women who have been assaulted to report so that justice can be fast-tracked.

Ms Waiguru pointed out that several cases including the reported defilement of a three-year old child in Githima Village in Mathira East, Nyeri County, by her two uncles paint a grim picture of harassment and violation of girls in public and private spaces.

She also cited the attempted defilement and brutal assault of a 10-year-old girl in Tetu, also in Nyeri, and the genital mutilation of schoolgirls in Pokot and Baringo counties.