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{
    "id": 557123,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/557123/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 141,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Kimaru",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2072,
        "legal_name": "Anthony Mutahi Kimaru",
        "slug": "anthony-mutahi-kimaru"
    },
    "content": "I attended a funeral last weekend. Immediately after the burial, people starting fighting over the property of the deceased person. The good thing is that the good lady had a marriage certificate. When her in-laws tried to tell her that they must start distributing the property there and then, she stood firm and told them that they should meet in court. If the lady did not have that important document, it would have been very hard for her. We have seen how important that institution is to us. We all know how it is with the current nominee for Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK). It becomes a big issue that nobody can understand why he does not have a wife. I had a similar predicament when I was vying to be a Member of Parliament and, at that time, I had no one on my side. It became a very big issue. It is important that, that documentation becomes available at the nearest station. Previously, before the enactment of the Act, the assistant county commissioners were able to issue certificates of marriage. They were agents of the Registrar. Priests were agents of the Registrar as well. I cannot understand why, now, when we should be having services much closer to us, in the whole country, we only have 12 centres that can certify marriages whereas they should be even much closer. If there was an abuse on the issuance of those licences by priests or assistant county commissioners, it is not good to throw out the child with the bath water. If there were weaknesses in the structures, it is those weaknesses that should be removed and certification be made possible at the lowest level. It is amazing that even priests today have shortages of certificates. I would urge that the same priests who have been given licences to issue marriage certificates on behalf of the Registrar of Marriages, be reinstated. When people want to get into marriage and they want to go a step further to prove that, indeed, they are married, they have to take a bold step. A number of times I have heard people referring to marriage as a life sentence. It should, maybe, be referred to as a life engagement. If people are ready to take that life engagement or sentence depending on how you look at it, they should be allowed to do that easily and at the nearest level possible. The sub-county level is important to me. When you look at other countries where people have been married before, for you to be married, you have to go through the church. Going through the church has become quite expensive because you have to do a ceremony. Many of the young people who are in the institution of marriage cannot afford the largesse of a wedding, although they want to be in marriage. That is why they look at the civil marriage as an alternative. I am glad that some churches even have the wholesale marriages where you have so many people coming together to take their vows, instead of each person taking their vows at their own time. With such devices, where people are ready to come together in a group and get married - although each to their own spouses - this should be made easy. It should not be made too difficult. When it is made difficult 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."
}