Civil Society Groups in Nakuru have petitioned the Ministry of Health to reschedule the launch of the National Reproductive Health Policy 2022 – 2032 to allow for adequate public participation.
They indicated that though they had in November last year written to the Ministry requesting inclusion of civil society in the drafting and validation processes prior to roll-out of the draft Policy, the Ministry held validation meetings on February 2 and 17 2022, without involving them.
In the petition signed by Mr Cosmas Mutua and Ms Tracy Wanja on behalf of the umbrella Nakuru Civil Society Reproductive Health Network, and addressed to Head, Division of Reproductive and Maternal Health, Ministry of Health Dr Stephen Kaliti, the groups claim that critical stakeholders were not meaningfully engaged in the development of the Reproductive Health Policy and that it is not readily available online, on the Ministry of Health’s website.
“Under Articles 1(1), 1(2), 10, and 38 of the Constitution of Kenya, there is an obligation to consider the needs and interests of the public who are likely to be adversely affected by the proposed policy, before the policy is launched and operationalized.
Moreover, the Ministry has not provided the public with information on where and how they can access the draft Policy. It is therefore impossible for people to comment on this crucial document as it is not readily available,” it reads in part
The petitioners state that the RH Policy excludes key sexual and reproductive health issues and has not sufficiently captured interventions on unsafe abortion despite unsafe abortion being a major cause of maternal mortality and morbidity in Kenya.
It further reads “The right to safe and legal abortion in exceptional circumstances is articulated in Article 26(4) of the Constitution. A guiding framework on Article 26(4) is necessary to ensure access to safe abortion services provided by trained medical personnel,”
Mr Mutua informed a media briefing that the Reproductive Health Policy contradicts the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Ministry’s own Adolescent Package of Care by classifying sex for persons under the age of 21 years as a harmful reproductive health practice, and enforcing consent from parents, guardians or government medical specialists when providing reproductive health services to minors.
He added “This also contradicts certain county-specific reproductive health policies that allow minors to consent to their own reproductive health services. The Reproductive Health Policy is unconstitutional as it requires single parents to be vetted by a professional committee to have children through surrogacy. This violates the right to reproductive health under Article 43(1) of the Constitution, which includes the right to decide if, when and how often to have children; and the right to equality and freedom from discrimination under Article 27 of the Constitution,”
Ms Wanja called on the Ministry to make the Reproductive Health Policy 2020 – 2030 readily available online and publish the full copy in the leading dailies and Issue a request for submission of memoranda on the Policy that will allow stakeholders at least 30 working days to make written submissions.
“I urge the Ministry to organize public hearings to directly receive oral submissions from stakeholders,” Ms Wanja pointed out
The Petition is copied Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe, Principal Secretary Susan Mochache, Acting Director-General for Health Dr Patrick Amoth, Chairperson, National Gender and Equality Commission Dr Joyce Mwikali Mutinda, Chairperson, Council of Governors Martin Wambora, Chairperson, Kenya National Commission on Human Rights Roseline Odede and Chairperson, Commission on Administrative Justice Florence Kajuju.
