A petition seeking to decriminalize deliberate transmission of HIV or any other Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STI) diseases should be dismissed by the high court says Attorney General Paul Kihara.
The law says that any person who deliberately or intentionally infects another with HIV or any other life threatening STIs is guilty of an offence, whether or not he or she is married to that other person and shall be liable upon conviction to imprisonment for a term of not less than 15 years but may be enhanced for life.
The petitioners argue that the law creates criminal sanctions and punishes persons living with HIV and is unconstitutional for violating their rights, such as the right to freedom from discrimination.
“In examining the purpose, effect, historical background behind the enactment of the disputed law and the intention of the legislature we urge the court to take the judicial notice of the fact that Kenya and in general Africa, continues to be ravaged by the scourge despite the scientific gains that have been made to wards reducing the mortality rates,” said AG Kihara in statement from Daily Nation.
“By passing the disputed law the Legislature was not acting in a vaccum but responding to a situation in which the state needed to intervene.”
The law also states that any person who, without reasonable excuse, hinders or obstructs the taking of an appropriate sample shall be guilty of an offence of obstructing the cause of justice and shall on conviction be liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than five years or to a fine of not less fifty Ksh.50,000 or to both.
The case will be mentioned on February 10 2022.