← Dada DailyCivic EducationApril 20267 min read

The P3 Form: Why a Single Document Costs Women a Conviction

The P3 medical examination form is supposed to be free. In practice, women are charged ~KES 1,500. For many, that fee ends the case before it begins. The law, the loophole, and the fix.

There is a single document that can make or break a GBV prosecution in Kenya. It is called the P3 form. It is supposed to be free. It is not free. And that gap — between the law and the practice — is where thousands of cases end.

What the P3 Form Is

The P3 is a police medical examination form. When a woman reports GBV, she is sent to a government hospital to have her injuries documented by a medical officer, who fills out the P3 form. That form becomes the primary physical evidence in any criminal prosecution. Without it, a case rests on testimony alone — harder to prosecute, easier to dismiss.

The form was designed as a free government service, completed at public hospitals by officers acting in their official capacity.

What Happens in Practice

In practice, most public hospitals charge ~KES 1,500 for the P3 examination. This fee is not statutory. It is not in any law. It is administrative policy — and it costs women their cases.

KES 1,500 is approximately one week's food budget for a low-income Kenyan household. For rural women, transport to a government hospital with P3 services can add another 500–1,000 shillings. For women who have just experienced violence — who may have left their homes, their phones, their money — it is insurmountable.

Women who cannot pay the P3 fee have their cases end there. Not at the ODPP. Not in court. At a hospital reception desk. The perpetrator faces no consequence. The case is never filed. It does not appear in any statistic.

The Legal Argument

Courts have been clear: P3 examinations should be free. The fee is not authorised by the Sexual Offences Act, the Criminal Procedure Code, or any police standing order. It is a hospital-level administrative practice that has persisted because no institution has been required to stop it.

Some counties have moved to zero-fee P3 examinations following advocacy by FIDA Kenya and GVRC. The result in those counties: more reports, more prosecutions, higher conviction rates. This is not a hypothesis. It is documented.

The Fix

Explicit no-fee mandate written into the GBV Act or Sexual Offences Act — not a directive, a law.
Hospital obligation to provide P3 within 72 hours of a police referral, free of charge, with documented refusal grounds required.
Alternative: expand recognition of GVRC, Nairobi Women's Hospital, and accredited private provider P3 forms in all courts without objection — reducing dependence on government hospitals.
Cabinet-level directive to county health departments, enforced by the Ministry of Health with reporting obligations.

The Penal Code (Amendment) Bill 2026 does not address the P3 fee. It is the most important omission in the bill. Every MP who votes for the bill should be asked — on the record — to also support P3 fee elimination as a standing order or ministerial directive.

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