Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 557059,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/557059/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 77,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Gikaria",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2489,
        "legal_name": "David Gikaria",
        "slug": "david-gikaria"
    },
    "content": "As Hon. Injendi has put it, the Attorney-General was trying to formulate this to try and protect that institution. This is because people will come with some flimsy issues claiming that they got married and claim for inheritance yet they do not have certificates. So, this aspect of the regulation will stop the abuse of this institution in future by people who have ill motive. I totally agree with hon. Injendi that this is a very important issue. One of the issues raised in this Motion is the marriage notice that is given. These are the 21 days. After the notice, one is supposed to get married within three months and pay Kshs1,500. Assuming that, for any reason, you do not get married before the three months elapse, what happens to the Kshs1,500? Are you supposed to pay another Ksh1,500? You know some of these issues could come out of the couple that wants to get married. Even if you do not get married within the stipulated period of time for whatever reason, it should be indicated that if it is for this reason and it was beyond your control, then if in future you want to get married, you can use the same receipt for the payment. The special fine of Kshs50,000 that is charged if you do not want to go to the Registrar of Marriages or church but you want go to a garden, a park or wherever you want, is exorbitant. You are only supposed to pay Kshs1,000 to formalise your marriage in other countries. It will make people who live around the borders to cross over and do their marriages in other countries, come and solemnise their marriages in the country. However, the law in the other countries says that the couple must also be in conformity with the laws of this country. So, it is important that we indicate the exact fees. Hon. Injendi should have come up with the exact fees. The issue of decentralising the places is also important. Hon. Injendi ought to have said that the Deputy County Commissioners and the Assistant County Commissioners can be indicated as Registrars of Marriages so that that will go down to the lowest level. The village level might be a little bit costly. The chief is at the lowest level of the village. It is acceptable for the Assistant County Commissioner or the County Commissioner to take that office. I agree that the procedure ought to have been brought back to Parliament so that we can deal with it. At the same time, we needed to have moved some amendments to the Motion much earlier. We should have indicate, in Parliament’s opinion, which should be the lowest level as a Registrar of Societies and the amount based on what was there before. The churches used to get a booklet of 100 certificates at Kshs20,000 but now they get 150 certificates at Kshs25,000. It is now cheaper for the churches unlike before. I agree that this is a timely Motion. However, for purposes of implementation, it needs to have some proposals which will be implementable in future so that when we take it up as a Committee on Implementation, we will go for specific issues instead of not knowing what to do. With those few remarks, I support the Motion."
}