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{
"id": 1106093,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1106093/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Halake",
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"speaker": {
"id": 13184,
"legal_name": "Abshiro Soka Halake",
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"content": "Thank you very much, Madam Temporary Speaker, for re- organising the Order Paper and giving me the chance. I will not take too long because the background to The Law of Succession (Amendment) Bill has already been said. I beg to move that The Law of Succession (Amendment) Bill (Senate Bills No. 15 of 2021) be now read a Second Time. The Bill is not a very long one. It seeks to address the issue of gender equity in succession matters. The Bill in amending the Law of Succession Act seeks to ensure that the Act provides for gender equity with regard to succession matters. The Law of Succession Act, Cap.160, is the core applicable law in Kenya regarding issues of succession. Madam Temporary Speaker, the Act provides the law for testate with the will and intestate succession without a will. The Act contains provisions that advanced discrimination of women in the following ways. It exempts certain areas from application of the intestacy rules, leaving cases where one dies without a will to be subjected to customary law, which in most cases, is unfavourable to women. Therefore, we do not want a situation where the law of succession is left to lower level legislation, while the statutory legislation discriminates against that. As I said before, as I was laying the background and the policy concerns that occasioned this Bill, there was a disconnect between the Law of Succession Bill and the Constitution of Kenya, 2010, as well as other statute laws. It discriminates against widows in that when they lose their life interest upon remarriage, while widowers do not. Madam Temporary Speaker, it gives priority to fathers over mothers by expressly granting them precedent to inherit a deceased child’s property whenever the intestate leaves no surviving spouse or children. Therefore, this law, while has some good provisions, does discriminate against women and needs to be aligned with the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 and other statute laws that are more dynamic and aligned to the Constitution of Kenya, 2010. It also provides that in polygamous marriages, the husband inherits the full estate when each of his wives dies, but his net estate when he dies, is divided among his surviving wives and children. Therefore, the Bill at Clauses 6, 7 and 8 seeks to remedy this situation by giving parents an equal right to inherit the property of their deceased children, where there is no surviving spouse or children. It is making it clear that not only a widow, as currently provided for, shall lose life interest in property upon remarriage. Madam Temporary Speaker, although Kenyan laws guarantees inheritance rights to all by statues, discriminatory customary laws still dominate in practice. Property grabbing by family members, although outlawed by the state, is common and affects widows, orphans and disabled persons, who often lack the ability to challenges these practices in court. Although the Law of Succession Act seems to give some sort of protection against intermeddling with the estate of a deceased person, what amounts to intermeddling is not very clear. It is for this reason that the Bill, at Clause 2, proposes to define the term ‘intermeddling’ as follows: Intermeddling means taking possession off, disposing off or using the property of the deceased without the authority under this Act or any other applicable law; ejecting by"
}