Law alone won’t resolve naming of children born out of wedlock

A sociology expert is calling for cautious celebrations on the ruling by Justice Mumbi Ngugi that children born out of wedlock should have the father’s name in their birth certificate. Prof Octavian Gakuru says new social trends where women want children minus the man and breaking away from patriarchal traditions where men were protected from responsibility in case of illicit love bring more intrigues on what is in a name.

The don admits that knowing one’s roots is equally important as one has a sense of belonging, but prospects of life are breaking apart the traditional feeling that the child belongs to a man more than a woman. He says all this depends on culture as in some communities; men go after their kids while in others the same are named after their mothers.