wfn.org | All Africa News Agency June 16 2003 (c)

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

ALL AFRICA NEWS AGENCY
P. O Box, 66878, 00800 Westlands, NAIROBI, Kenya.  Tel: 254-2-4442215,
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Fax: 254-2-4445847, 4443241; Email: aanaapta@insightkenya.com , 
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AANA BULLETIN No. 23/03 June 16, 2003 (c)

FEATURES  SECTION

How The Condom Could Gain Use Among Rapists

It would appear the advocacy for condom use could, curiously, gain 
popularity in unfamiliar grounds. Its use may soon not only apt to guard 
against sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancies, but, for 
rapists, the long arm of the law as well, report Oscar Obonyo and Henry
Neondo.

A rapist who "cares" to wear a condom while committing the offence, may now 
be able to get away with it - thanks to a recent ruling by a Kenyan High
Court.

While the historic ruling offers a more concrete solution for ensuring the 
right culprit is identified and brought to book, it also means that 
individuals can assault women, achieve penetration, and still go scot-free.

Cognition of this fact follows a decision by one of Kenya's senior 
judiciary officers and a one time Deputy Public Prosecutor, to quash a 
14-year jail sentence of a convicted rapist.

Justice Alex Etyang set free Mr Richard Kiptoo Cherutich, arguing that his 
sperms should have been tested to prove that he was the rapist.

Cherutich had been jailed by a magistrate's court in 1998 and ordered to 
receive two strokes of the cane and hard labour, for allegedly raping a 
woman in 1992.

The controversial ruling has sent jitters across the country, especially 
among gender activists and women lobby groups.

The Centre for Rehabilitation and Education of Abused Women (CREAW), Child 
Rights Advisory and Legal Centre (CRADLE), Coalition on Violence Against 
Women (COVAW) and ABANTU for Development, jointly expressed concern that 
the ruling could set a worrying judicial precedence on the sensitive rape 
crime.

The Executive Director of COVAW, Ms Milly Odhiambo, and Ms Judy Thongori, 
the chairperson for CREAW and also a senior official of the Kenya chapter 
of International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), are particularly
enraged.

"The lead given by the honourable judge is erroneous and a miscarriage of 
justice. What if the man who rapes you does so with the use of a condom?" 
queries Thongori.

"Or must we try the near impossible task of grabbing the gadget from 
whoever, after the ordeal, and present it with full contents to relevant 
authorities?" poses Odhiambo sarcastically.

The lobby groups accuse the judge of shifting legal goal posts and creating 
unnecessary burden of proof.

"The law as we know it, only requires a victim of rape to prove unlawful 
carnal knowledge and positively identify the attacker. Once the above 
ingredients are established, it is upon the attacker to provide an alibi or 
prove that he was not the one," explains Thongori.

She adds that in the case in question, the judgement shifted well-known 
goal posts by requiring that apart from the above requirements, the 
secretion found in the victim needed to be analysed to confirm that it 
emanated from the suspect.  Says she: "By a stroke of the pen, the judge 
increased the burden of proof borne by a rape victim".

But another lawyer insists that quashing of the sentence is merited, since 
no third party had confirmed witnessing the incident.

"Rape is a heavy crime and so is its penalty. It is unfair to leave it all 
at the hands of a victim by allowing her excessive leeway of just pointing 
at whoever she imagines is the attacker," argues Mr Alubala Andambi.

Saying that justice requires the right culprit to be correctly identified, 
Andambi calls for a scientific test to determine if Mr Cherutich was 
guilty, and urges the government to set up the right gear for such 
investigations.

The lawyer gives an example of a related case, where a woman who had been 
accused of forcibly having sex with a boy and infecting him with HIV, was 
released after a principal magistrate ordered that she undertakes an HIV 
test. She tested negative.

Thongori and Andambi are in agreement on one thing, though - that the 
government, through parliament, has a further responsibility of guarding 
against waywardness when allowing room for judges to use their own 
discretion in delivering judgements.

Odhiambo adds that parliament should enact the long pending Criminal Law 
Amendment Bill, and give special consideration to a Sexual Offences Act.

"The failure by parliament to enact the bill first published in 2000, had 
increased incidents of rape and sexual violence," claims the COVAW boss.

Among other things, the bill aims at harmonising laws on sexual offences 
and the administration of justice. There has been inconsistency in 
penalties for those found guilty of sexual offences.

For example, a person guilty of having defiled a girl less than 14 years 
can be sentenced to [a] maximum of 14 years imprisonment, while the one 
found guilty of raping an adult gets a harsher penalty of life imprisonment.

The activists maintain that Justice Etyang's judgement rightly echoes fears 
expressed by the late Chief Justice, Zachaeus Chesoni, who once noted in a 
workshop in 1999 that magistrates seemed to develop pathological sympathy 
with rapists.

The then Chief Justice had said he could not understand why in the offence 
of rape, where the law provided a maximum of life imprisonment, 
"magistrates tended towards minimum sentences".

Odhiambo and Thongori recall that over the years, courts had been lenient 
in rape cases. This, they argue, could be part of the cause of the increase 
in incidences of rape.

Police statistics over the years have shown that reported cases or rape 
have increased by more than 1,000 in ten years.  In 1990, there were 515 
cases, which increased to 1,675 in 2000.

According to observers, these figures may reflect an under-reporting of 
rape. Many believe that the true figures are much higher.

Meanwhile, the woman allegedly raped by Cherutich wants the Chief Justice 
(CJ) to intervene in the matter.
Making a public appearance before the press recently, accompanied by her 
husband, the woman urged the CJ to investigate the case further, and review 
the judgement by the Court of Appeal.

"I can only sympathise with the poor woman and her husband, who must be 
very tormented by now. She needs justice too. It is not her mistake that 
the government, then,  lacked the necessary gadgets or relaxed to test for 
DNA," implores Otieno Ochillo, a human rights activist.

Giving Hope To Beautiful Ones At Beautiful Gate

A unique baby care centre in Lesotho is putting smiles on faces of the 
country's neglected children. Having noted a conspicuous absence of a 
system to take care of infants abandoned in unfortunate circumstances, 
Beautiful Gate Lesotho moved in about three years ago, to fill the gap. But 
a lot still needs to be done to contain the situation, reports Lebohang 
Lejakane.

N
o one can tell how Thato, 2, will react the day he learns how lucky he has 
been to be alive. The defining moment will be the day he meets with his 
mother, if that will ever happen.

Two years ago, Thato was found abandoned in a public toilet in Maseru. The 
stranger took him to Queen Elizabeth II Hospital, where he was treated and 
later released to Beautiful Gate Lesotho, a Maseru-based care centre for 
abandoned children and those affected by HIV/AIDS.

"Then he was hardly two months old and little did I know he would one day 
become part of my family," recalls Thabo Makepe, a full time volunteer at 
the centre and a missionary with Youth with a Mission.

"Around June 2002, my wife, Marethabile, who is also a missionary, 
confessed to me that she felt extra special love for Thato. We agreed to 
adopt him as our child and we are doing fine," he says.

"Who knows, this could be the future prime minister of this country," 
Makepe adds, recalling that the founder of the Israeli nation, Moses, had 
been an abandoned child.

Thato is one out of many unfortunate children that Beautiful Gate Lesotho 
has given hope to.  According to the director and co-founder of the 
institution, Ray Haakonsen, the centre was established in June 2001 in 
response to the impact of poverty and HIV/AIDS on children in Lesotho.

It stands out as the only recognised care centre for rejected children in 
Lesotho, notes Haakonsen.

"We were deeply touched by the findings of a report on	the situation of 
children in Lesotho. It said, among other things, that there was no 
recognised care centre for abandoned infants in the entire country," he says.

Haakonsen explains that the primary objective of the unique centre is to 
facilitate adoption of neglected babies into loving and caring homes.

"The centre started with seven abandoned babies... To date, about 46 babies 
have gone through the system. Some are successfully returned to their 
relatives, but many of them are adopted into loving homes," he spells out, 
adding, "A minority of these babies are infected with HIV/AIDS."

Appealing for community support in the programme, the director observes: 
"Donating items such as baby nappies, milk formula, baby toys, linen, 
kitchen equipment and furniture makes a difference to the welfare of these 
babies".

He expresses the wish to see more people volunteer their time and expertise 
to spend a few minutes or hours "giving these babies love, or fostering a 
baby over a weekend."

One such volunteer, Claire Oliver, makes time to see the babies every week. 
She says the visits are fulfilling, and wishes more people could do it.

  "My motivation to come here every week is my love for children. I just 
enjoy spending time with them and having fun. Sometimes I take them home in 
my car as an outing for them, and they love it," she states.

The centre is currently operating at maximum capacity (25 babies). 
Haakonsen regrets that they are not able to accept more abandoned infants, 
given that babies at the centre were just a tiny proportion of those in need.

However, the director notes: "We are already doing something to reach out 
to the many more in need out there in the villages."

Alex Makosholo, an AIDS training facilitator at the centre, agrees that 
notable strides are being made to reach out to more children in need 
countrywide.

"We are networking with partners to empower care givers in villages on care 
for orphans and abandoned children. We also visit child-headed families to 
counsel them, educate them about HIV/AIDS and above all, give them hope in 
life," he reveals.

The partners, he says, include District AIDS Task Force, Lesotho AIDS 
Programme Co-ordinating Authority, and Lesotho Network of AIDS Services 
Organisation.

But Makosholo admits that the going may not be that smooth because of 
poverty. "AIDS is terrible and devastating, but unless we overcome poverty, 
we have a really high mountain to climb.

When we talk about AIDS in the villages, people out there keep telling us 
that they are hungry and that their immediate and priority problem is 
poverty and not AIDS," he says.

And he has a solution in mind. "We are about to launch a concerted campaign 
to turn gardens green countrywide. We want gardens to have fruit trees and 
all sorts of vegetables as part of a significant drive to promote nutrition 
and good health and in the process, lessen proneness to diseases," he
explains.

The AIDS worker reveals that a strategic plan of action, which is being 
finalised by the co-operating partners and will be implemented soon, 
"involves mobilising churches, teachers, politicians and community 
leadership in different spheres in a concerted effort to overcome the AIDS 
pandemic, now officially estimated at 31 percent in a population of a 
little over 2 million people".

Makosholo is optimistic that with the right strategic approach and 
interventions, HIV/AIDS would be nipped in the bud in Lesotho within five 
years.

"The key thing to do is to ensure that our education and empowerment 
campaigns target mainly children in the 'window of hope' period (ages 
8-12years) so that when they enter the 'risk' period (from 13years), they 
are able to make informed decisions," he contends.

Stiff Competition Drives Urchins Back To The Street

Nairobi streets appear to be heading back to "normalcy" with the gradual 
return of parking boys and girls, thanks to chaos caused by haphazard 
implementation of a free and compulsory education directive effected in 
Kenya early this year. AANA Correspondent, Pedro Shipepechero, reports.

C
onfusion generated by the implementation of free and compulsory primary 
education in Kenya has forced the government back to the drawing board.

In a series of guidelines meant to deal with the excitement precipitated by 
the programme, the government embargoed the establishment of new schools, 
and preferred to expand the existing facilities.

The result has been the locking out of school, pupils who could not find 
room in overcrowded institutions. Among them are the dirty, glue-sniffing 
teenage youth, who have once again become a common sight on the crammed 
Nairobi streets, after some absence.

The scenario puts into jeopardy, the new regime's quest to improve 
enrolment and participation in education.

According Ministry of Education data of 2001, school enrolment had dropped 
from an all-time high of 98 percent in 1983 to below 65 percent last year.

Interviewed, a senior official at the Ministry of Education headquarters in 
Nairobi, said: "There was an overwhelming response by those who had been 
shut out of school due to poverty. But this was not matched with giving 
schools enough resources for the increased population of pupils."

The chaos were exacerbated by delays in disbursing about Ksh3.4 billion 
(U$48.6 million) occasioned by "mapping" to establish the number of pupils 
in need of education, vis-`-vis room in education institutions.

This, says the education official, has caused disenchantment 
among  children who would rather go back to the streets than attend school 
where competition for facilities was more intense than on the streets they 
are used to.

Nairobi, which within the first two months of NARC government had become 
free of street boys and girls, is once again teeming with a big population 
of the urchins, who eke out a living by begging for alms.

Some of the street-children are victims of rich and influential people, who 
pushed them out of school in order to secure room for their children in 
government schools known for good academic records.

Ironically, a number of these (street) children reside just a few metres 
away from parliament, next to a five-star hotel frequented by legislators.

Some parents, intent on taking advantage of the policy,  transferred their 
children from privately-owned institutions to public schools, thereby 
exerting more pressure on an already bad situation.

In the countryside, where admissions were relatively smooth, the situation 
was no better at the start of the second term last month.  Most head 
teachers are still being forced to enrol new pupils.

Along the national borders, for instance, there have been reports of 
children from neighbouring Tanzania and Uganda joining Kenyan schools, 
putting a further strain on the limited facilities.

The ruling National Rainbow Coalition (NARC), a loose association of some 
16 parties previously in the opposition, snatched power from Kenya African 
National Union (KANU) after elections last year.  The latter had dominated 
government in the East African nation since independence in 1963.

  Among NARC's strong campaign strategies that contributed to its victory 
in December 27 polls, was the promise for a free primary education.

Interestingly, the policy exists in KANU manifesto, but it was never 
implemented, allowing schools to charge levies that were way out of the 
means of many poor parents, who form a sizeable portion of the country's 
population. About 56 percent of the 30 million Kenyans are said to be 
living on less than a dollar per day.

To make good the promise, NARC rushed to execute the policy, paying little 
attention, as it were, on the modalities and logistics of its implementation.

There are about 17,000 state-owned primary schools in Kenya for about six 
million children. At the end of last year, the Ministry of Education 
estimated that there were about 3.3 million children of school-going age 
who were not attending school for lack of fees.

Independent estimates put the figure at over 4.2 million children, most of 
whom were forced out when the previous regime began absorbing the impact of 
IMF and World Bank-prescribed structural adjustment programmes, which 
entailed cost-sharing in the health sector and cutbacks on education
spending.

Since May 7, when the second term of school got underway, what started as a 
negligible trickle of children back to the streets is building into a 
steady stream, with attendant nuisance caused by street families becoming 
commonplace.

The enforcement of new guidelines to direct education officers to ascertain 
conditions prevailing in each school in terms of enrolment and advise 
parents on alternative places in neighbouring schools, is a big challenge 
to education in Kenya. What with government freeze on recruitment of 
additional teachers, despite the massive rise in number of children seeking 
education in state-maintained facilities.

Ms Judith Agalo, a senior teacher at a slum school, says the implementation 
of free education in Kenya would have worked better if the government had 
also considered employing more teachers.

"Efficiency is compromised by the large number of children a teacher is 
required to handle, currently standing at over 100 pupils for every single 
teacher, says Agalo.  She adds: "There is no free time to plan..... We are 
sometimes forced to work late into the night marking books, to be able to 
cope with large number of pupils".

Such strain is one but a long catalogue of crises primary education in 
Kenya has suffered in recent months. According to Agalo, the free and 
compulsory education promise was a public relations exercise to hoodwink 
the electorate to vote in NARC into power.

Schools are also being required to put available resources, both human and 
material, to maximum use and where numbers exceed capacity, to timetable 
sessions to accommodate morning and afternoon shifts for pupils in the 
first three years of primary school.