Even as debate rages on the emotive issue of when to have consensual sex in Kenya, a Court of Appeal judge has called on the sex age consent to be increased to 21 years.
Lady Justice Martha Koome said if the country is to have a debate on consent age, then it should be on increasing it and not to reduce it from 18 to 16 years.
Five weeks ago, a three-judge bench, overturned a 15-year sentence for a man who impregnated a 17-year-old girl.
Roselyn Nambuye, Daniel Musinga and Patrick Kiage had justified their ruling saying prisons were jammed with young men serving lengthy sentences for having had sexually abused adolescent girls whose consent had been held immaterial because they were under 18 years.
The judges argued that 16-year-olds teenagers are already engaging in sex and have the ability to make decisions on what they want to do with their bodies.
“It is high time the country considered revision of the Sexual Offences Act,”the three judges said.
Speaking during the launch of the Nairobi Children’s Court Service week, Justice Koome, however, said the children’s voice and opinion should be considered in matters that affect them directly.
“We should not be in a hurry to lower the age of sex consent, let us give our children time to grow,” she said.
Her sentiments were backed by Supreme Court judge Njoki Ndungu has expressed her reservations on the decision by the Court of Appeal lowering the age of sexual consent from 18 to 16 years.
Njoki who pushed for the sexual offences act during her tenure in parliament, says the decision of the court was ill advised and would lead to an increase in sexual abuse crimes.
In addition, a senior clergyman has said the debate on lowering the age of consent will tear apart society’s moral fabric.
Archbishop Timothy Ndambuki of the African Brotherhood Church opposed the proposal when he presided over the opening of a new church at Syotuvali in Mbooni.
“At 17 years and below, the majority of our girls and boys are still in school. Psychologically, they are not ready to engage freely in some things because they are not yet adults,” he said.
“Lowering the age of consent will only contribute to an increase in school dropouts and early marriages. Therefore, morality will be watered down,” he said.
An amendment to the Sexual Offences Act was presented to Parliament through the Statue Law (Miscellaneous Amendment Bill) 2016, it seeks to change the age for consensual sex to 16 years.
If the proposed amendment goes through, it will be legal for 16-year-olds to engage in consensual sex and even get married.