Study exposes unholy axis of power, politics and sex

Imenti Central MP Gideon Mwiti accused of raping a woman in his private office.

Are influential and powerful men more inclined to sexually molest women? Well, Kenyan politicians currently embroiled in sex scandals could take temporary solace in the answer to this question.

Research findings published in the authoritative scientific journal Psychological Science suggest that philandering politicians stray largely because of the power they wield: “The likelihood (of infidelity) increases the more powerful someone is,” observes Joris Lammers, an assistant professor of psychology at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, who authored the study.

While the study may have been persuaded by escapades of some top world leaders, including former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, former US President Bill Clinton and Dominique Strauss-Kahn, former managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), its findings mirror the current Kenyan situation.

Imenti Central MP Gideon Mwiti and his Turbo counterpart Elisha Busienei are the latest politicians under focus for alleged sexual offences. A communication consultant has accused Mwiti of forcibly subjecting her to an HIV test before allegedly beating and raping her. The MP has denied the allegations and the matter is still under police investigation.

Busienei’s case is a bit different because the complainant is a fellow legislator, Taveta Woman Representative Joyce Lay. The MP, who alongside Busienei, was part of the Defence and Foreign Affairs committee that toured Japan last week, has publicly claimed the politician made sexual advances at her.

Lay made public her woes through the social media, claiming Busienei had insulted her after she turned down his sexual overtures. The two MPs were booked in the same hotel and floor.

And only last month, Susan Wambui made public a series of text messages, which she claimed were from Juja MP Francis Waititu. The texts were both seductive and abusive.

Susan, who says she was the MP’s secretary at the Constituency Development Fund (CDF), claims seduction turned into death threats when she declined to give in. The MP has vehemently denied the allegations.

According to the research findings published in Psychological Science and reproduced by Maia Szalavitz in The Time Magazine of April 28, 2011, the higher someone is in a position of influence, the greater their chance of cheating on their partner or sexually molesting others — regardless of whether they are male or female.

Of the analysed results in the Internet survey of 1,561 readers of a Dutch business magazine, Szalavitz reports that 58 per cent of respondents held low-level non-management positions; 22 per cent had some management responsibilities; 14 per cent were middle managers; and 6 per cent were top level executives.

Disinhibited sense

“My own research and that of my colleagues has shown that one of strongest effects of power is that it increases feelings of confidence,” the neuroscience journalist quotes Lammers, who carried out the study.

The feeling of decreased power, according to Lammers, leads to more of a focus on threat and danger: “But power leads to this disinhibited sense that you can get what you want and should take risks to get it,” says Lammers.

This corrupting effect of power, adds sociologist Beneah Mustosto, is the very persuasion behind the politicians’ don’t-care and bully behaviour.

“They want to get their way through intimidation and forcefully, because they know they are in a position of influence and they feel protected from any prosecution,” observes Dr Mutsotso, who teaches at the University of Nairobi.

The tale of politicians accused – rightly or wrongly – of molesting women did not start with Mwiti. One of the high profile cases came to the fore in 1986, when the late Elijah Mwangale, then Foreign Affairs minister, allegedly attempted to rape a daughter of then Head of Civil Service, Simeon Nyachae.

‘Bull of Auckland’

According to a report in Economic Review, then an authoritative weekly published and edited by Peter Warutere, the incident happened during the minister’s official trip to the US. Nyachae’s daughter was an undergraduate student in America. Mwangale was moved to the Ministry of Agriculture the following year.

A decade later, Ugenya MP James Orengo – now Siaya County senator – caused uproar in Parliament when he named then powerful Industrialisation minister Nicholas Biwott as the “Bull of Auckland”. Biwott had allegedly been deported from the Pacific Ocean Island, where he had accompanied President Moi, for what New Zealand authorities reportedly described as indecent behaviour.

Orengo claimed, to the amusement of MPs, that Biwott was the member of the Kenyan delegation who molested a hotel chambermaid during the November 1995 trip. He was, however, unable to prove or substantiate the claims on the floor of the House.

Later in 1999, a schoolgirl claimed she had been defiled by Julius Sunkuli, a Minister of State in the Office of the President. The girl claimed the offence was committed on a red carpet in the minister’s office.

Sunkuli denied the allegations claiming it was the work of his nemesis in FIDA (Federation of Women Lawyers). Curiously, the alleged victim later recanted her statements and distanced herself from FIDA.

Mt Elgon MP John Serut was similarly accused of using his position to sexually molest a junior female parliamentary official. This was in 2003, while he served his first term. The MP, accompanied by his wife, denied the accusations at a press conference.

Elsewhere on the continent, African Heads of State seem to have played to the same script. In February 2004, Gabon’s President Omar Bongo allegedly tried to sleep with an 18-year old beauty from Peru. Ivette Santa Maria Carty, the reigning “Miss Peru” had been invited to host the “Miss Humanity” pageant.

Immediately she landed in the capital of Libreville, she claims to have been taken to the presidential palace, where Bongo tried to take her to his bedroom.

The drama nearly erupted into a major diplomatic row between Peru and Gabon, with the late President maintaining his innocence.

In South Africa, Jacob Zuma stoked outrage in 2006 when on trial for rape, he confessed to having unprotected sex with a woman he knew to be HIV positive. He was, however, acquitted of any charges of rape.

But counterparts in the west have not been so lucky. Clinton narrowly survived impeachment over his intimate relationship with Monica Lewinsky, an intern at the White House.

Sex scandals In Italy, Berlusconi’s public ratings plummeted tremendously following a series of sex scandals, including allegations that he paid for sex with 17-year-old Moroccan belly dancer Karima El Mahroug, known as “Ruby the heart stealer”.

The former Italian PM repeatedly denied all the allegations.

For Strauss-Kahn of France, the pill was much bitter to swallow. The former IMF boss was the front-runner in most opinion polls to win the presidential election to replace Nicolas Sarkozy, when he was jolted by a sex scandal.

Strauss-Kahn threw in the towel in May 2011 to instead battle the sexual assault charges he faced in New York.

While many, including UK’s Minister for Civil Society Brook Newmark, have resigned upon being fingered, suspected philanderers in Kenya have remained unmoved.

Last September, for instance, Newmark resigned from PM David Cameron’s Government for a “lesser sin” of being caught sending an explicit picture of himself via Internet.

It is unlikely that Kenyan counterparts can follow suit. As Mutsotso argues, local politicians will do everything to defeat justice, “including hiding under the cover of tribes and political parties”.