A new Bill championed by the Kenya Women Senators’ Association (KEWOSA) seeks to impose tougher penalties on sexual and gender-based violence offenders, introducing mandatory compensation for victims in addition to prison sentences.
The legislation pushes for a “double punishment” approach that ensures perpetrators face both jail time and financial restitution to their victims. It specifically targets offenders of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and men who impregnate young girls.
The Bill also aims to amend several existing laws, including the Children Act (2022), the Sexual Offences Act (2006), the Basic Education Act (2013), the Marriage Act (2014), and the Counter-Trafficking in Persons Act (2010), to seal loopholes usually exploited by sexual offenders.
At the heart of the Bill is a provision for offenders to pay their victims while they are in prison. It further seeks to improve how forensic evidence is collected and preserved to strengthen prosecutions. To protect victims and witnesses from intimidation, the Bill also recommends the use of video links and recorded testimonies during court proceedings.
“Victims of these heinous crimes must receive not only justice but also adequate support and compensation,” KEWOSA Vice Chairperson and nominated Senator Hezena Lemaletian said.
“This Bill proposes a compensation and reparation framework that will require offenders to make restitution to their victims.”
The bill also calls for safe centers and shelters to be put in place to protect the survivors, especially when the perpetrators are family members. It urges the government to allocate sufficient funds to such facilities and to enter into bilateral agreements with countries in the neighbourhood to allow cross-border perpetrators to be extradited and prosecuted in Kenya.
The Bill also seeks to ban the use of informal or “kangaroo” courts in handling cases of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and teenage pregnancies. It emphasizes that such cases must be processed through formal judicial systems to guarantee justice and accountability.
The initiative comes in the wake of a recent Senate fact-finding mission to Busia County, where KEWOSA uncovered shocking rates of teen pregnancies and gender-based violence. KEWOSA Chairperson and nominated Senator Veronica Maina said that data from the National Syndemic Diseases Control Council shows that between 2016 and 2024, Busia recorded 65,540 teen pregnancies.
“Teenage pregnancies remain one of the biggest barriers to girls’ education and empowerment. It denies young girls the opportunity to complete their basic education and achieve economic independence,” Maina said.
Last year alone, Busia County reported 4,542 cases of teenage pregnancies, with Samia Sub-County recording the highest rate in the country. Nationally, 47,632 teenage pregnancies were documented during the same period.
KEWOSA cautioned that early pregnancies expose young mothers to extreme health effects such as maternal morbidity, mortality, and high vulnerability to HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections.
“Socially and economically, early pregnancy leads to school dropouts, loss of self-esteem, and intergenerational cycles of poverty,” the legislators said.
Between 2016 and 2024, Busia also recorded 2,884 cases of sexual and gender-based violence among adolescents – a steep increase from 66 cases in 2016 to 480 in 2024. Adolescents now represent 23 per cent of all reported SGBV cases within the county.
Additionally, 171 girls got pregnant as a result of defilement between 2017 and 2024. At the national level, Kenya registered 47,632 cases of SGBV last year, showing that legislative intervention is needed to curb the escalating crisis.
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