In Kenya, Stopping Rapes Is a Challenge

A man cycles past a billboard highlighting sexual violence in Nairobi, Kenya, Thursday, June 22, 2006. More than 2,800 cases of rape were reported in Kenya in 2004, and doctors say social stigma prevents countless other women and girls from even reporting the crime. Billboards warn against "human beasts" and emphasize that sex by force is, indeed, illegal. (AP Photo/Khalil Senosi) (Khalil Senosi - AP)

NAIROBI, Kenya -- He was speaking at a conference about sexual health _ a meeting convened in part to help reduce the alarming number of rapes in Kenya. But the priest wasn't crusading. He was trying to entertain.

Rev. Dominic Wamugunda, who is also dean of students at the University of Nairobi, tried to lighten his talk on "Sexuality, Culture and Religion" with a joke _ about rape. And the way it was received, and the fact that he could even tell it among a group of feminists from across Africa, offers a window onto the challenges faced by activists trying to reduce violence against women in Kenya.

"When high-up men make statements that rape is a joke, it tells you that there is a lot of political work to be done," said Patricia McFadden, a sociologist based in Zimbabwe who attended this week's three-day conference in Nairobi.

More than 2,800 cases of rape were reported in Kenya in 2004, and doctors say social stigma prevents countless other women and girls from even reporting the crime. Billboards warn against "human beasts" and emphasize that sex by force is, indeed, illegal.

But attempts to increase the penalties for such assaults have run into resistance and outright scorn. And Wamugunda's off-color joke _ about a man who breaks into a convent and vows to rape every nun, sparing only Mother Superior _ was just the latest in a string of contentious public comments about rape made by officials in this East African country.

Wamugunda acknowledged during a telephone interview with The Associated Press that he made the joke, but said it was harmless.

"That joke came into my mind and I love a good joke. The women there were laughing. We cannot be taken to prison for telling jokes, can we? Some women take feminism too far," he said.

Before hanging up, he added: "Some men do too."

McFadden and others who were present said they regretted not walking out in protest. The next day, several women said the mild "titters" heard after Wamugunda spoke were the product of discomfort and shock.

But to many, the joke was not surprising given the state of discourse on rape in Kenya. Last year, then-Justice Minister Kiraitu Murungi said donor criticism of Kenya's fight against corruption was "like raping a woman who is already willing." He later apologized.

During a meeting in Parliament on a bill to strengthen punishments for sexual offenses, lawmaker Paddy Ahenda said the proposal was too strict, adding: "In our culture, when women say 'No,' they mean 'Yes' unless it's a prostitute." He, too, apologized.

The legislation passed after months of raucous debate, marking the first comprehensive review of sexual offense legislation that was introduced by British colonial rulers in the 1930s. But key sections that would have outlawed marital rape and female genital mutilation had been excised.

Assistant Minister for Basic Education Beth Mugo called the final product a "shell" of the original proposal.

Mikewa Ogada, a research officer at the Kenya Human Rights Commission, said the bill met resistance in part because its critics tried to cast it as "a strategy by women to take over."

Dr. Sam Thenya, chief executive of the Nairobi Women's Hospital, said flippant comments about sexual assault speak to an utter lack of understanding about the subject.

"They have not internalized the magnitude of the problem, the damage and trauma, for rape survivors," said Thenya, who says an average of 15 rape victims come to his hospital every day. He estimated that 45 percent of them are younger than 16.

"We still have a long way to go in condemning rapists," he said. "Survivors don't report rapes because they think they'll be the ones being condemned."

McFadden, the sociologist, said women across Africa should pay attention to the treatment of the issue of rape in Kenya.

"This is a wake-up call to us," McFadden said. "We shouldn't assume that people who claim that they are our allies actually believe in us."