Court stops gazette notice by Attorney General on marriages

Nairobi, Kenya: Church leaders can now breathe easy after a Nairobi Court temporarily stopped the implementation of a gazette notice by the Attorney General on marriages.

Bishop Mark Kariuki went to court on Thursday seeking to have the AG stopped from implementing Gazette Notice 6303 of September 5, this year.

The gazette notice required church leaders to renew their licences, file returns of all marriages that have been celebrated to date and return all marriage certificate books by November 1. They were also required to submit church records of all marriages to be celebrated before November 1, which is only a week away.

While granting the order, High Court Judge George Odunga said marriage is a constitutional right enshrined in the Constitution.

Basic right

"The Constitution recognises and protects the marriage institution and family. Every Kenyan has the basic right to marry a person of the opposite sex under the Constitution," Justice Odunga said.

He noted that the time frame issued by the AG to implement the gazette notice was too short.

He asked lawyer Kenneth Mbaabu, representing Bishop Kariuki to serve the parties and appear for an inter-parties hearing on November 26 before the Constitutional and Human Rights Division.

While arguing his case, Mbaabu told the court that church leaders risk having their licenses revoked for failure to renew them within the short time frame.

He said November is a prime period for weddings and revocation would mean that many marriages will not be celebrated. "It is becoming very expensive for Kenyans to get married under the new notice," the lawyer said.