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{
    "id": 555863,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/555863/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 265,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Bishop) Mutua",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13137,
        "legal_name": "Robert Mutemi Mutua",
        "slug": "robert-mutemi-mutua"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for giving me this opportunity. First of all, I want to thank my colleague, Hon. Injendi, for bringing such an important issue to be discussed in this Motion. One, I want to speak particularly concerning the process that was supposed to have been simplified by the Act that we passed. The regulations seem to have reversed the intention that we had because the regulations have become quite prohibitive. They are very expensive time-wise, money- wise, emotionally and in terms of the procedures. Therefore, we need, first of all, to increase the registration centers as proposed in this Motion. This is so that the Christian marriage service can become accessible to the people who do not even have a lot of money. As it is now, it has become a very expensive affair to get your marriage registered. This is going to encourage what I would call “come-we-stay” marriage, which has no documents. These particular regulations are working against the Christian faith and beliefs. This is because they are making it very expensive to get married in the Christian way. Therefore, these regulations need to be changed and amended. The people that are affected by these regulations need to be involved in the preparation of these particular regulations. When the regulations were being done there were very little consultations. The present regulations are forcing people to travel very far places just for the purpose of seeking to give notice. The thing is this: You give notice, you stay for some time, you come back, you stay for more time and you go back again. This is punitive! We are punishing the people who want to get married. Therefore, we are discouraging the official marriages from taking place in this country. Why should it become so expensive for you to register your marriage? Why should it become so expensive for you to get the registration? This is something that should be so easy as it is controlled by love that the two people have towards each other. Under customary law, there were processes that were laid down. They were not as expensive as this one because they were made in such a way that they were entertaining and participatory. However, this particular exercise that we are seeing now is more commercial than anything else. We have changed the Christian marriage to a commercial event in terms of the amount of money that you are required to pay before you can get married. As far as the issue of people rejecting, or objecting to your marriage is concerned, the process has been put in a way that a malicious person can also interfere and postpone your date of marriage for no good reason. The church has its mechanism of verifying whether two people who intend to get married in a Christian marriage are qualified to do that. I would like to propose that we let the church play its role in assessing and checking who qualifies to get married in a Christian way, just the same way our Muslim brothers are doing. They are not subjected to this kind of law because of their Kadhi courts that determine whether they are qualified or not. The church also requires to be given a leeway to determine who qualifies and who does not. Therefore, the church minister who has been authorised by the Government to conduct weddings should be authorised to do some of the things that are supposed to be done in Nairobi, Kakamega or Kisumu. They should be done within the sub-county and the constituency, where a particular wedding is going to take place. If we do it that way, many more people will be encouraged to formalise their marriages, particularly when it 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."
}