Figment of imagination: State rejects bid to legalise polygamous Christian marriages

A constitutional petition filed by Bonface Koimburi Ndura is challenging the legality of laws restricting Christian marriages to monogamy.

The State has dismissed a retired teacher’s push to have polygamous Christian marriages recognised under Kenyan law as a “figment of imagination”, urging the High Court in Kitale to reject his constitutional challenge to the country’s marriage laws.

In a spirited defence of the Marriage Act, 2014, the Attorney-General argued that petitioner Bonface Ndura Koimburi had failed to demonstrate how the law violated his constitutional rights or discriminated against Christians.

The petition filed by Mr Ndura Koimburi has been held up by technicalities and delays in the filing of responses by the parties in the matter.

Court says that while freedom of religion is protected, it cannot override a spouse's right to leave a marriage through the civil courts.

Kenyan law says seven years of unexplained absence may be enough to remarry; lawyers say even three years can do it.

Bride price across these four Kenyan communities remains a firmly rooted tradition with specific deliverables that call for shrewd negotiations.

I get bored by good men. I have lost three so far, and they all went on to marry.

Kenya Railways is the government’s most indebted agency, holding a Sh547 billion debt.

The petition questions the source of money distributed at public empowerment events

The changes follow an announcement in June by the ministry that would rationalise the school calendar.