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{
"id": 555842,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/555842/?format=api",
"text_counter": 244,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Injendi",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 2214,
"legal_name": "Moses Malulu Injendi",
"slug": "moses-malulu-injendi"
},
"content": "Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I beg to move the following Motion:- THAT, aware that the Marriage Act, 2014 was assented to by H.E the President on 29th April, 2014 and commenced on the 20th of May, 2014, noting that the act was by and large an amalgamation of the previous Acts, thus amendments relating to the regulations were minimal in effect, deeply concerned that there are only twelve offices for the registrar of marriages in the whole country, making it difficult for the hopefuls to issue notice of marriages, mindful of the fact that the upward revision of the marriage certificate acquisition fee is not affordable to many Kenyans, thus inhibiting them from registering marriages as envisaged by the new Act, this House urges the Government to review the procedure and the cost of marriage registration, and to decentralize the offices of the registrar of marriages to a minimum of all sub-counties so as to reduce bureaucracy and enhance accessibility. If you look at the regulations of the Attorney-General, this arises from two facts. The first one is the process of registering a marriage where when it comes to the Office of the Registrar. Marriage registrars are only 12 in the country. In the whole country, we only have the offices of the Registrar of Marriages in Kakamega, Kisumu, Kisii, Embu, Machakos, Mombasa, Malindi, Nakuru, Eldoret and Nairobi. If one has to register a marriage, the only offices available to them to issue notices as required by the Act are these 12 offices in the country. This makes it difficult for one who is interested in getting married to give a notice to the Office of the Registrar. If you take the case of a person in Lodwar who intends to marry and give notice, he has to come all the way to Eldoret. In Kakamega County, a person in Budalangi or Busia has to come all the way to Kakamega Town to give a notice for a marriage. This Act was to help the Attorney-General to decentralise these offices to the sub-counties to enable persons to give notices easily. After giving notice to the Registrar of Marriages, the Registrar should give notice to the pastors and Church Ministers before time lapses as required by the law. Previously, it was easy to get married. Nowadays, it takes almost three months from the time one gives a notice of marriage to the marriage date. This increases the period in the old Act, which provided for a shorter period for persons to marry, particularly persons who are engaged for a long time. Another problem that arises from this is the fee. When you look at the fee in the regulations by the Attorney-General, it is inhibitive. They make marriage to be a preserve of the upper class. Persons in the middle level and the lower class will find it hard to get married. This Marriage Act was to take care of persons who were getting married when they were not seriously intending to get married. The few persons who are causing us to have the Marriage Act amended have caused many Kenyans to suffer. For example, if you look at the notice of marriage, it used to cost Kshs200 but it now costs Kshs600. Solemnisation of a marriage, for those who do not know, is for the persons who have been living together without marrying officially in Church. It used to cost Kshs1,000 before but now it costs Kshs2,000. The issuance of a marriage certificate previously used to cost Kshs200, but it is now Kshs500. The mere issuance of a certified copy of a 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."
}