Only Sh60,000 is all it will take for a woman who was raped during inter-clan conflicts in Mandera County to look the other way and let peace prevail between the two warring sides.

The clans have branded the cash as a dowry payment which elders from Murrule and Garre settled on to mend fences and agreeing to cease long-standing hostilities.

One of the clans which was accused of raping women from the other admitted to one of many alleged sexual offences and the elders from both sides settled on Sh60,000 as apt for the crime.

After agreeing on the rape fine, Murrule and Garre clans signed a peace deal on February 8 to end the long-standing conflict over water and pasture that has caused deaths and injuries too.

The clan elders normally use Somali customary law to establish compensation for such damages despite such offences being punishable by law and leave permanent scars on victims of rape.

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Busia Woman MP Florence Mutua in 2016 introduced changes to the Sexual Offences Act, 2006, which among other things sought to prohibit plea bargaining.

The amendments proposed to punish any person who initiates or connives to cover up a sexual offence in any form with a five-year jail term or a fine of Sh500,000.

But in February 2017, the Bill flopped after failing to get the legally required backing of two-thirds majority of MPs leaving rape as an offence punishable by a jail term of more than 10 years.