Women raid men’s pockets for upkeep

By LILLIAN ALUANGA-DELVAUX

Kenya: Men be warned. Kenyan women are increasingly having their boyfriends and absentee husbands forced to provide for their children a move that indicates days when men could sire children and bolt are over.

According to data seen by The Standard on Saturday, the women are using a raft of laws, especially the new Constitution, to raid men’s pockets for their upkeep. Also helping them to catch the absconding dads is the robust Children’s Act.

However, men have often complained that the women use  cash paid out as maintenance for children to fund flashy lifestyles. 

It is a clash of the sexes that has tipped the scales in favour of women. Previously men could deny responsibility for their children, sharing property or maintaining their girlfriends or estranged wives. It is also a warning to men against casual, unprotected sex that often leads to unplanned pregnancies.

Compelling data provided by the Federation for Women Lawyers Kenya  (Fida-Kenya) shows that the number of women seeking legal intervention for matters ranging from child maintenance, land, child custody and succession have shot up since the new Constitution came into force in 2010.

The Fida-Kenya figures are an indication of the new race for upkeep, because the organisation is usually the first port of call for women aggrieved by such matters.

Figures from the Judiciary also collaborate that women are making good use of laws.

And in some cases, it is the children who demand that their father’s pay for their upkeep including education, food and clothing, according to officials.

More than 10,000 women seeking to have men take responsibility for their children have sought legal help from Fida-Kenya since 2009. This is only in the three major cities — Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu — where the organisation runs “legal clinics”.

In a case that demonstrates how seriously the courts are taking the issue, a man who complained that he could not raise the Sh31,000 he was ordered to pay for child maintenance was dismissed by the High Court. The man had filed an appeal after the Children’s Court made the order.

Appeal

“The subject of the appeal is a child,” the judge told him.

“The orders made by the Children’s Court were for the benefit of the said child. The said court is enjoined by the Children Act to act in the best interests of the child. This is a child of tender years… I cannot find any basis at all for staying orders meant for the welfare of such a child.” The child was two years old.

The Fida-Kenya figures have risen sharply between 2009 and 2013, with those for women demanding maintenance accounting for the highest numbers. In 2009, the total number of cases reported at Fida-Kenya’s legal aid clinics on matters relating to child custody, succession, domestic violence, matrimonial property disputes, divorce and harassment  in Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu totalled 3,076.

But in 2010, the year the new Constitution came into force, the number shot up to 5,294, then to 5,569 cases in 2011, before dropping to 5,480 cases in 2012. The figure, however, rose again last year, with 6,319 cases recorded.

Disputes on maintenance top the charts in the years since 2009, with over 10,000 cases reported up to last year. This is followed by those on succession, at 3,043, custody at 2,263 and division of matrimonial property at 1,373.

Figures provided by the Judiciary show a total of 1,350 child support cases in Nairobi in 2012, which rose to 1,865 last year. This year 568 child maintenance cases have been filed in the Children’s Court.

“Contrary to perception that many women simply want their spouses to financially support them, majority of the clients we get at our clinics are seeking help to pay school fees, especially when children are joining high school,” Fida-Kenya’s Deputy Executive Director Teresa Omondi said.

Family lawyer Judy Thong’ori cites Article 53 of the Constitution that is a ‘game changer’ for women on matters of child maintenance and could have contributed to more pursuing legal options in resolving disputes in the family.

“The new Constitution gave visibility to rights and as such many women are now more confident to approach the courts,” said Ms Thong’ori.

The Article stipulates that every child has the right to parental care and protection, which includes equal responsibility of the father and mother to provide for the child, whether they are married to each other or not.

Maintenance cases

There are however other factors that could also explain the rise in the number of maintenance cases.
“The economic downturn has seen some women that could previously afford to provide for their children unable to do so on their own,” added Thong’ori.

Also of interest is the rise in the number of women seeking training so that they could personally face the men in court without a lawyer. Last year 875 women sought the services.
The number of cases so far concluded by self representing clients stands at 68, recording a huge success rate, given that 63 of them got what they were demanding for.

The Cradle Foundation’s Joan Ireri also attributes the rise of women seeking cash from the fathers of their children to high levels of awareness. Cradle is an organisation that champions children’s rights.

“A lot was done in terms of civic education, prior to the referendum in 2010, and many people at the grassroots got to know the Constitution’s provisions,” she said.

The new Constitution also protects women’s rights on land and inheritance. The legislation on land and matrimonial property now expressly protects dependants of deceased persons, including interests of spouses in actual land occupation.  

Ireri cites land rights and says while previously not many women had a voice to challenge matters of inheritance, the opposite is possible today, courtesy of what the law provides.