A post shared on X (formerly Twitter) alleging that President William Ruto has legalised prostitution in Kenya is FALSE.
The X user praises President Ruto for legalising prostitution, further urging him to support the Kenyan pornography industry to help create jobs for jobless Kenyans.
“Hello @WilliamsRuto Thank you for Legalizing prostitution. Now invest in the Kenyan porn industry it will create full-time employment for more than 300K youths,” read part of the post.
Currently according to the Kenyan Penal Code prostitution remains illegal.
Section 153 imposes a hefty penalty on male persons living wholly or partly on the earnings of prostitution or soliciting the act in public places.
Section 154 declares that women practising in the acts, and have been proven to engage in prostitution in court, are guilty of a felony.
The X user was reacting to the proposals contained in the Penal Code (Amendment) Bill 2023 presented by the National Council on the Administration of Justice (NCAJ) presented to the Kenyan parliament for consideration.
NCAJ Chair Chief Justice Martha Koome and her NCCJR counterpart appellate court judge Grace Ngenye submitted the draft Bill for consideration to the National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula during a meeting on October 19, 2023.
According to the draft Bill, prostitution will remain an offence, however, it is not punishable through imprisonment but through the use of alternative modes of handling petty offences
These include; issuance of verbal sanctions, conditional discharge, probation, community service, and attending a rehabilitation centre.
The primary goal of the bill is to amend the Penal Code to include human rights-friendly language concerning people with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities.
The bill also seeks to amend the Penal Code to protect intersex people who are involved in the criminal justice system.
Based on the above facts the Star Fact Checker has established that the claims shared on the post are FALSE.
This fact check was published by The Star Factcheck desk with technical support from Code for Africa’s PesaCheck newsdesk, through the African Fact-Checking Alliance (AFCA).
