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{
"id": 1054080,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1054080/?format=api",
"text_counter": 286,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Homa Bay Town, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Peter Kaluma",
"speaker": {
"id": 1565,
"legal_name": "George Peter Opondo Kaluma",
"slug": "george-peter-opondo-kaluma"
},
"content": "motivation, is that “a spouse” shall mean husband or a wife or wives as recognised under the Marriage Act. We passed the new Marriage Act in the last Parliament and we have not brought the Law of Succession Act to be attune to it. So, I am saying any spouse can inherit where their spouses die and they can administer the estate for the family. However, the spouse must also be the spouse as defined in the Marriage Act, not a bare frame that we currently have which can make a man coming to this country with a fellow man claiming they are spouses for purposes of succession. On the face of it, that is what I am seeking to do. I am seeking to align the Law of Succession Act to the Marriage Act which we passed and it is a very detailed law. We want to make it non-discriminatory in terms of husbands also inheriting. The definition of “spouse”, when looked at that way, may appear light. However, this is the ramification I spoke about. You have seen too many cases, currently, where a person dies. The person is either married under customary law, in which case the bride price has been exchanged, families have known one another, they are staying together or, they may be married under statutory law in which case you have gone to the Attorney-General Chambers or you may have wedded. You have seen cases where people die, especially men, and people who do not qualify to be spouses under the Marriage Act, while your wife, the widowed is mourning and burying you, the person who is not qualified at all, in fact, possibly a girlfriend who was infringing on your family, is busy petitioning in another court elsewhere and the person who was hiding with you away from your family now petitions and because of the current broad definitions of “wife” under the Act which I am replacing with “spouse” gets entitled and disinherits the family. This is something that will be cleansed. As a very young lawyer, I did the matter of the estate of Ambrose Adongo Adeya and I want to request Members to look at it because it is a reported case. This gentleman was duly wedded in church. Now, that kind of marriage under the Act, then and now, is strictly monogamous. When the former secretary of Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) passed on and was being buried by his sole wife somewhere in Siaya, a lady was busy petitioning in Nairobi. The lady went to court and said that Adongo bought her tea and was taking care of her. If you read that case, you will discover that the lady was duly wedded and was living with another man with whom she had children. There is an improper definition of “wife” and that is why I am replacing it with the word “spouse”. We appeared before Judge Martha Koome who ordered that a lady who depended on you, that is, even if you just took tea and a photo once, confirms that she is your wife. That case will confirm that the Adongos were ordered to give that lady a third of his estate. People may think that he did not have much, but he had properties all over Nairobi. We found the husband to this lady in Usenge and he brought the marriage certificate and was surprised to see his wife claiming to be Adongo’s wife for purposes of succession. Because of the improper definition of the word “wife”, just by taking tea and pictures with Adongo, the lady was given a third of his estate which consisted of millions of money and properties in Blue Sky and Mountain View. You will get the details in the case. We were to appeal, but for decency the family of Adongo agreed that they did not want to pursue that route. It is because their father had served the country well in the teaching profession. That precedent has been in existence and it is only after late last year that Lady Judge Asenath Ongeri - May God bless her - said that we now have a Marriage Act that properly defines a spouse. Whatever you are doing with someone in their lifetime, when he dies, just as you were hiding, let it die with him and allow his family to inherit his property, and that is what I am seeking to do here. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}