Woman beaten for caning daughter

Nairobi, Kenya: A woman was beaten up by neighbours on Wednesday morning for caning her daughter at Innercore estate of Eastland’s, Nairobi. The woman in her early thirties claimed that her seven-year-old daughter showed her disrespect by refusing to dispose a small heap of rubbish swept from the house off the veranda against her repeated pleas.

The neighbors who were awakened by the shrilling cries could not stand it any longer. Even distant neighbors drawn by the enlarging crowd at the gate prodded their way through the crowd to beat up the woman. After a short period of restraint, the woman’s friend held her as the other angered women hurled insults at her.

 The aggression from neighbors only seemed to fuel her fury against the daughter. She became hysterically angry and overpowered the interceding women. The daughter had fled outside the gate and a human barrier erected.

‘Pigeni huyo mama kabisa, mbona anachapa mtoto asubuhi hivyo’(Beat up that woman seriously, why is she caning a child this early morning) (sic), the women said one after the other.

Even after the concerned neighbors had taken the girl away from the fuming mum, she still wanted to cane her as a show of authority to discipline, prompting beatings from the enraged crowd. The father of the child was away at the time of the incident.

Neighbours threatened to report her to ‘Kwa-Chief’ Police Station if she continued in defiance. The woman, only identified as Alice,was sobbing in anger while uttering unprintable words.

It took the intervention of a teacher to the girl two hours later to calm down the besieged parent, who until then was still enraged. A few next-door neighbours who had tried restraining her returned to their houses silenced by hard blows from the woman.

 ‘Saa hizi mtoto anafaa kuwa amefika shuleni na yeye bado amemweka nyumbani na kazi ndogondogo’ (At this time a child should be in school but she has kept her busy with small chores) (sic), the neighbors said, justifying their action.

However, some of her friends differed saying that she has been living peacefully with her children and must have been provoked to act like that.

‘’Mama Jacinta si mwanamke wa magomvi’’ (Jacinta’s mum is not a tempered woman) (sic), one woman quipped.

The 8am incident left neighbors wondering the existence of such corporal punishment in today’s generation.

‘Huyu mama kwa kweli anajua anaweza pelekwa korokoroni kwa kumpiga mtoto hivyo?’ (Does this woman know she can be jailed for punishing a child like that?), one  woman said, shaking her head in disbelief.

Meanwhile, opinions and research studies are divided on the illegality of parental domestic corporal punishment. While in most countries of the developed world restrictions are put on who should mete out punishment (the parent only or legal guardian), many agree that the open hand must be reasonably used. Many parents who cross this line have been successfully prosecuted for abuse. In half these countries, no law has been passed to exterminate corporal punishment.

However, unknown to many (Kenyans are forgetful!); any form of corporal punishment was banned in Kenya when the new Constitution was promulgated in 2010, making Kenya the second African country to ban it. Article 29 of the Constitution states:  ‘Every person has the right to freedom and security of the person, which includes the right not to be ... (c) subjected to any form of violence from either public or private sources; (d) subjected to torture in any manner, whether physical or psychological; (e) subjected to corporal punishment; or (f) treated or punished in a cruel, inhuman or degrading manner”. Article 20(1) states: “The Bill of Rights applies to all law and binds all State organs and all persons.” And article 53(1(d)) confirms that every child has the right “to be protected from abuse, neglect, harmful cultural practices, all forms of violence, inhuman treatment and punishment, and hazardous or exploitative labor”.

The Children Act of 2001 in its Article 127(5) states that ‘Nothing in this section shall affect the right of any parent or other person having the lawful control or charge of a child to administer reasonable punishment on him.’

Children rights activists see this as a contradiction made void by the Constitution.

So beware parent/guardian. Your desire to correct may land you in jail.