55% Of Rapists in 2017 Election Were Police Officers

A report released by the Kenya National Human Rights (KNCHR) has indicated that 55 percent of sexual assailants were police and other security officers.

In a harrowing account that sends chills down the spines of many, the report recounts how the men and women entrusted with protecting Kenyans turned into those they were supposed to protect, raped and molested them.

According to the report, 96.26 percent of the victims who were raped and molested were women while men accounted for 3.74 percent. The sexual crimes committed during the period included rape, gang rape, attempted rape, defilement, attempted defilement, indecent acts and sexual assault.

The report documented a total of 201 cases of survivors who told their harrowing stories. Most of those who were raped during the period were raped by people known to them. For instance, one victim recounted how she was raped by a police officer who was a close family friend.

“He pointed his gun at me and said that if I screamed, there was no one around to help me. He said no one would come,” she recalled. She was raped and when she visited the hospital, she found out that she had been infected with HIV and AIDS.

The counties of Nairobi, Kisumu, and Bungoma recorded the highest number of sexual violence during the 2017 elections. In Nairobi, the sexual violence was highest in Uthiru, Kibera, Kawangware, Baba Dogo, Mathare, and Ngomongo.

Other counties that recorded high cases sexual violence during the period were Migori, Kakamega, Homa Bay, Vihiga, Bungoma, Busia, Siaya, Uasin Gishu, and Machakos. Most of these counties are perceived as the opposition strongholds and where violence broke out after the disputed 2017 general elections.

Kenya has laws that are against sexual violence but offenders often walk free due to ‘lack of evidence.’ Most of those abused during the elections saw no need of reporting to police because they had been assaulted by the same police.