INDEPENDENTS EMBARKED ON PENALIZING RAPE IN THE COUNTRY

The Office of the Independent Group in Parliament is putting together a ‘private members bill’ to review and maximise the penalty for ‘rape’ in the country.

Leader of the Independent Group, Hon. Manasseh Maelanga describes this bill as the dawn of a new era in the country’s Parliamentary Democracy as far as the public and the Independent Office is concerned.

Explaining the bill’s intention, Mr Maelanga says the recent rape case of a pregnant mother last week brings to the fore the seriousness of this issue.

He says condemning the act is not enough to deter such appalling inhumane act of cowardice.

Mr Maelanga explains, he is bringing a ‘private members bill’ to parliament under the appropriate standing orders to address the issue.

He adds his office is consulting widely and looking at the possibility of a maximum life imprisonment without parole and the
death penalty as a possible sentence for convicted rapists.

Mr Maelanga says his office will aggressively pursue its notable functional duties to the people of Solomon Islands through the floor of Parliament like no other times in the country’s history.