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{
    "id": 417344,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/417344/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 441,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Chepkong’a",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1154,
        "legal_name": "Samuel Kiprono Chepkonga",
        "slug": "samuel-kiprono-chepkonga"
    },
    "content": "For instance, it is now 50 years since we attained Independence and yet there are some legislation that deal with our marriages or govern marriages, divorce, separation and maintenances. These laws were passed in the last century. For instance, the Marriage Act was passed in 1902 and it is still applicable in this country up to today. It is shameful that we have not been able to come up with a new law to be able to manage our marriages except that which is colonial. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I know you are a very good lawyer because you have been practising. Hon. Kaluma who not only claims but I can confirm is a good family lawyer knows that the colonial courts declared African marriages as not marriages. They said that if we paid dowry it amounted to wife purchase. This is because as far as they were concerned, there was no love that was being exchanged between a man and a woman from an African descent. They said that was wife purchase and it did not amount to marriage. They also said that it was purely a co-habitation. That law is still applicable in this country up to today. That law was passed in 1902. The second law that we are seeking to repeal today is the Subordinate Courts (Separation and Maintenance) Act which was passed in 1929. This is still part of our records in terms of legislation in this country. The Mohammedan Marriage and Divorce Registration Act was passed in 1906. This is another outdated piece of legislation. The fourth one is the Matrimonial Causes Act which was passed in 1941 and yet it is still part of our legal system. The fifth one is the Hindu Marriage and Divorce Act. It is a bit recent because it was passed as early as 1960. That was before we got Independence. Lastly, we have the African Christian Marriage and Divorce Act of 1931. I do not know why they call it “African Christian Marriage and Divorce Act” because it was passed during the colonial period. However, the whites who live in this country arbitrate their own disputes and marriage pursuant to this. I think it should have been changed at some point and called “The Whites and African Christian Marriage and Divorce Act”. Fortunately, we are today passing one codified piece of legislation that deals with all these legislations that have been proposed as The Marriage Bill, 2013. These laws were largely debated in a chamber that was purely or mainly composed of whites at that time. So, there was no input from the indigenous Kenyans. What we see in these laws is what the white man thought was good for an African. So, the laws that we have in this country are what somebody else thought were good for us and we have continued to maintain them. We thank God that today the Eleventh Parliament has had the courage to repeal all these laws and come up with one codified law in the name of “The Marriage Bill, 2013” to encapsulate all the values and cultures of Kenyans as they live in this country. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, we need laws that provide certainty and consistence. As it is at the moment, there is a lot of application of Common Law in the laws that we have. This deals especially with laws that we inherited from the United Kingdom. Those laws are within the Commonwealth countries. This means that when we lack something in these laws we import those precedents from countries that we think have had better laws than ourselves. This is a historical opportunity for the Eleventh Parliament to pass a legislation that deals with the cultures of all the 42 tribes in this country. 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."
}