EDITORIAL: GBV a national scourge that must be stopped immediately

A task force this week recommended that, in order to clamp down on rape and a host of sexual offences, the Sexual Offences Act of 2006 be radically reformed to introduce chemical castration as punitive punishment for rapists and sex pests.

Their report, handed to President William Ruto on Tuesday, suggests that perverts who defile children and the physically challenged be handed the life-changing punishment to stamp out the evil which, according to their data, seems to be running out of control.

The proposal by the Technical Working Group on Gender-Based Violence, led by former Deputy Chief Justice Nancy Baraza, also recommended the creation of a special police unit to crack down on offenders because the pain and trauma they inflict on families and their victims is slowly turning into a national scourge that must be nipped in the bud.

In 2005, Supreme Court judge Njoki Ndugu, then a nominated MP, introduced a Bill that also recommended castration of offenders, but it was never passed.

In 2020, a Kibera-based NGO also proposed castration for male rapists.

But even before the proposed change can reach Parliament, the public must be made aware about the proposals because ignorance can lead to crippling consequences.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.” —English American writer and political essayist Thomas Paine was born on January 29, 1736