Harriet Vihenda Akunava has confessed on social media that she has been living with HIV virus that causes AIDS and that she has had unprotected sex with a couple dozen men. She urged her sex partners to go get tested in order to know their status as far as HIV is concerned. Ms Akunava also posted the results of her HIV test online showing that she is indeed positive.
In her post to Instagram, Harriet Akunava claims that she has been bitter about her HIV status and that it was time she came out clean. She said she has been infecting men for a while now and then asked for forgiveness.
Harriet Akunava then proceeded to post a list of her HIV victims online. The list shows the names of the men and their campus locations. The list is so detailed that it even includes the academic level of her HIV victims.
While Harriet’s victims are mostly students and support staff associated with the University of Nairobi and its affiliated campus, there are some reports that she has also infected top politicians in the country. Harriet Akunava posted the following list of men she has had sexual relationships with in her Instagram account:
While Ms Akunava may not be aware of all Kenyan laws, there is indeed a law that make it a crime for people to intentionally infect their sex partners with a deadly virus such as HIV. To take it a notch further, revealing the names of her HIV victims online in it self is a crime. This reminds me of a couple weeks ago when some bloggers were arrested for falsely reporting that CS Fred Matiang’i has contracted the deadly coronavirus and that he was fighting for his life in ICU.
We are glad that CS Matiang’i’s health is stellar and that the bloggers’ assertion were indeed false. After all, COVID-19 kills faster than HIV/AIDS and is highly infectious than the latter. Although of course there are proven cases of people making a full recovery from coronavirus while there has been no confirmed cases of patients of HIV/AIDS ever recovering from the disease anywhere in the world.
This makes Harriet’s actions of intentionally infecting her victims with HIV/AIDS a crime under the Kenyan legal system. Because it is similar to murder as the victims don’t stand a chance of ever recovering from the disease forever and are more likely to take anti-retro viral (ARVs) drugs for the rest of their lives in order to survive. These ARVs have side effects to the body that may include kidney failure and other more serious body reactions to the medications.
Known Side Effects of Anti-retroviral (ARVs) HIV Drugs
Taking HIV/AID drugs has been known to come with side effects that reduce the patient’s quality of life. Of course every individual’s body reacts differently to the medications and the severity of the reactions varies from one patient to the other. But it is safe to say that all patients that take the antiviral drugs show at least one of the effects listed below:
- hypersensitivity or allergic reactions, with symptoms such as fever, nausea, and vomiting.
- bleeding.
- bone loss.
- heart disease.
- high blood sugar and diabetes.
- lactic acidosis (high lactic acid levels in the blood)
- kidney, liver, or pancreas damage
HIV/AIDS is a serious health risk to the victims of the disease and that is why legislators in Kenyan parliament have come up with certain laws that make it a serious criminal offence for deliberately infecting another person with the deadly virus.
In 2006, Kenya passed the Sexual Offenders Act legislation that makes it a prosecute-able offense for deliberately infecting another person with the deadly HIV/AIDS or any other sexually transmitted disease. This is contained in section 26 of the HIV Prevention and Control Act 2006 and it says:
26. (1) Any person who, having actual knowledge that he or she is infected with HIV or any other life threatening sexually transmitted disease intentionally, knowingly and willfully does anything or permits the doing of anything which he or she knows or ought to reasonably know –
(a) will infect another person with HIV or any other life threatening sexually transmitted disease;
(b) is likely to lead to another person being infected with HIV or any other life threatening sexually transmitted disease;
(c) will infect another person with any other sexually transmitted disease,
shall be guilty of an offence, whether or not he or she is married to that other person, and shall be liable upon conviction to imprisonment for a term of not less fifteen years but which may be for life.
So in essence, Harriet Vihenda Akunava is looking at a very lengthy sentence behind bars if she is convicted of infecting her sex partners and very likely that her innocent confession will turn into a nightmare in the court of the law.
Even if Ms Akunava is not convicted of infecting the men, any of the victims listed above can indeed sue her for revealing their names and place of school or residence as this not only violates their privacy, but also traumatizes their loved ones for fearing the possibility of contracting the deadly HIV/AIDS virus.
Harriet Akunava is also going to face the social stigma of being a known carrier of the deadly HIV/AIDS virus. Anywhere she goes, people are going to react differently at her presence. She is more likely to face social isolation, have difficulties dating or even her own family deserting and or avoiding her.
This again relates to CS Matiang’i;’s prosecution of the bloggers in Eldoret that alleged that he has contracted the deadly virus. Dr. Matiang’i argued that his family has been traumatized by the false news and therefore the offending parties needed to be brought to book.
When looking at the laws regarding the intentional transmission of the deadly virus, courts in North America and Europe requires that anyone who has tested positive to HIV/AIDS, syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia or any other STDs to tell their partners that they are infected with the disease(s) before they can engage in any penetrative sex. This is mandatory regardless whether protection is used or not. Several people have been jailed for not revealing their HIV status after having sex even if they used condoms and did not transmit the disease to their partners.
The main issue of contention here is the right to know that your partner is indeed a positive carrier of HIV/AIDS and hence make an educated decision whether it is worth risking your life by engaging in sexual relations with them. It is important to note that people have gotten infected with the virus even after using the condom as it is only effective about 90% of the time.
What To Do If You Had an Affair With Harriet Akunava.
If you have ever slept with Harriet Akunava be it with protection or not, you should consider taking the following steps.
- Get tested for HIV as soon as possible. Getting tested will enable you to know your status and then device a plausible cause of action. Should you test positive for HIV, go get antiretroviral drugs right away and inform your wife, girlfriend(s) or any other person you are or have had sexual relations with to get tested.
- Report Harriet Vihenda Akunava to police or Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI). As a Kenyan citizen, your rights have been violated for this woman to knowingly expose you to the deadly virus. If your name is on the list above, you should also consider suing Harriet Akunava for violating your privacy rights.
- Get counselling. HIV/AIDS is a deadly virus. In fact, the disease kills more than 30 million people annually in sub-Saharan Africa-the most affected region in the world. Getting counselling will enable you to learn how to live with the disease as you are not going to recover from it as there is no cure. Good news is that, there are known people who live a positive life with the virus. For example, Magic Johnson got HIV in 1991 and nearly 30 years later, he is still living and going strong.
- Avoid infecting others. As I highlighted above, infecting others with the deadly HIV/Virus is a prosecute-able offence. If you sleep with other people while knowing that your are infected, you are more likely to be sued and if convicted, jailed. Do not make the situation worse than it is! Take precaution and stop transmitting the disease to others.
It is also important to tip-off any associates of Harriet Akunava about her confessions especially if they seem to be intimately involved so that they can know about the lady’s status and intentions.This will enable her suitors to make informed decisions should it come to getting involved with Harriet Akunava romantically.
