By HAROLD ADOYO
Dear Harold,
This column recently highlighted differences between customary and statutory marriages. I am shocked that customary marriages do not believe a man can be adulterous but the wife can be. It is also potentially polygamous and gives husbands the leeway to chastise their wives. My husband may be privy to these provisions as he finds it difficult to keep his zip up — nothing in a skirt seems to pass him unnoticed. I am now scared that his behaviour may have dire consequences on me including contracting sexually transmitted infections. I have resolved to demand that we undergo a statutory marriage for me to acquire grounds to divorce him when he continues with his adulterous ways. What are the requirements of a statutory marriage?
Diana, Nairobi.
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Dear Diana,
Statutory marriages are weddings performed in church, the office of the District Commissioner or at the Registrar of Marriages (Attorney General’s office). To take place, both parties must be single or if already married under customary law it can be transformed into statutory by undergoing the above procedures. The parties marrying must be biologically a man and woman and aged at least 21 years when marrying without consent of their parents. However, when a man is aged 18 years and woman 16, they may get married after getting consent from either their parents or guardians. Moreover, the love birds must be mentally stable and can no longer marry other people as long as their spouses are still alive or marriage legally ended by either divorce in court or death. If a person married in church or at the office of the District Commissioner marries while the marriage subsists, he/she will have committed an offence called bigamy and can be jailed for up to five years.
Got a family related legal issue? Ask the lawyer on hayodo@standardmedia.co.ke
