Homa Bay Town MP Peter Kaluma wants people convicted of homosexuality and other unnatural sexual acts to face life imprisonment or a commensurate sentence.
Kaluma said he intends to table a Bill before the National Assembly to increase severity of the penalty for offenders.
“We must arrest homosexuality, bestiality and those other unnatural acts before the vices destroy our society,” the MP said on Twitter.
He noted that his proposed law is intended to further the provisions of Article 45(2) of the Constitution to protect the family.
He reiterated that the law will not only consolidate the existing legislation relating to unnatural sexual acts but also increase the penalty.
On May 24, 2019, the High Court upheld laws criminalising homosexual acts between consenting adults.
The court was addressing a petition filed in 2016 by three Kenyan organisations that work to protect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.
The groups said criminalisation of same-sex conduct under articles 162 and 165 of the penal code violates the rights to equality, non-discrimination, human dignity, security, privacy, and health, all protected under Kenya’s constitution.
Kenya’s anti-homosexuality laws were first imposed by British colonisers in 1897.
Article 162 punishes carnal knowledge against the order of nature with up to 14 years in prison, while article 165 makes “indecent practices between males” liable to up to five years in prison.
