Yes, let’s document and shame spouse bashers

Njoki Ndung’u

The declared intention by the Government, in particular the Ministry of Gender and Social Services, to set up a database of perpetrators of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) is good news. It is a milestone in the campaign against a pervasive crime that is often under reported and unpunished. That such a databank is long overdue is not in dispute. Yet the announcement in itself has "scaremongering" potential that could sufficiently act as a genuine deterrent, especially among those wary of the underlying name-and-shame objective.

Such records are a standard mark in many developed countries and citizens usually know the unfavourable consequences of their names ever being part of them.

big brother

Usually, that means Big Brother is literally watching you, and your freedom to certain rights may sometimes be curtailed in public interest, especially where there are legitimate fears of recurrence of GBV. Entry into such a database could also attract indirect but painful punishment. It is encouraging to note the Government plans to deny public jobs to those who are incriminated by its envisaged records. The underlying thinking is that since the negative effects of the GBV transcend the immediate victim, potential solutions to the same must equally be societal and wider in approach; that it is not enough to merely punish a guy for battering his wife, (or wife for beating her spouse) especially if the courts impose a lenient penalty, as they normally do. Even where the law does not catch you by hauling you in court, there should be other ways to strike fear, restraint and to enforce peace at the domestic front.

Festive Season

But what makes the announcement, which is part of the National Framework towards Response and Prevention of Gender-based Violence in Kenya, even more attractive is its timing. The world over, there is proof of an upsurge of GBV during the festive season.

With so many people taking a break from purposeful engagement to join family and friends in a season of carousal, the merriment and resultant debauchery sometimes finds expression in GBV. Fighting breaks out amongst family members, creating a soar in domestic violence incidences. Sexual violence assumes ugly forms of rape, sodomy, incest, and forced prostitution where perpetrators use drugs and alcohol to entrap victims under the guise of celebrating Christmas and New Year.

But it should not count whether such acts are premeditated or cases of impaired judgment as a consequence of indulgent partying. We must devise laws and policies that make GBV a painful and costly crime for its perpetrators.

The Gender Ministry initiative is, therefore, laudable and deserves our support. I hope there will be no undue delays in implementing the database. In fact Gender Minister Esther Murugi and her ministry would give us the perfect New Year by operationalising it the soonest. That notwithstanding, the ministry effort can only be effective if adequately supported by other law enforcing agencies.

Specifically, the police must take their rightful place in the crusade against GBV. That means being at the centre of the envisaged action. For starters, it will be essential for them to devise more realistic ways of segregating GBV data from other crimes of common assault. Secondly, it is important for the Commissioner of Police to ensure that sensitisation programmes at the respective police colleges also address the socialisation that informs negative cultural beliefs that allow for a blind eye on violence occurring in the home or elsewhere that is gender based. Despite efforts at Kiganjo Training College and the CID Training School to raise awareness amongst officers, many are still wont to play down GBV as "mambo ya kinyumbani" that are unwelcome time-wasters for the more "serious" crime like murder, robbery and burglary. Reporting victims are usually encouraged to try reconciliation and if the "disagreement" proves serious, to seek the counsel of wazees.

Yet, you only need to see the data on serious bodily harm and deaths that have resulted from it to appreciate why considering it casually is a serious misjudgement.

Reliable Data

Besides, the direct and auxiliary costs of this crime are actually significant to a country’s economy if properly weighted. Where reliable data obtains, it is shocking how GBV can be a drain on a society’s socio-economic wellbeing. It costs the taxpayer billions annually in health, justice and social support services. The figures could be higher if you factor in the economic multiplier effect of GBV. Victims may not go to work out of injuries sustained and if they do, they may only be partially productive. There are also hidden costs like increased morbidity and mortality through homicide and suicide, abuse of alcohol and drugs, and depressive disorders. Then there is unhealthy intergeneration effect of inherited violence where offspring of GBV causers often exhibit the same bestiality, reduced lifespan and life quality.

Appropriate Law

But even the best thought out anti GBV crusade must be anchored in appropriate law that is specific and unambiguous against the targeted crime. It is my New Year wish therefore that Parliament will see the need and the commensurate motivation to legislate stringent Domestic Violence laws in 2010. In the meantime, could we all just make the effort to embrace the spirit of well-being and having a violence free New Year?