Their message to their women colleagues was: It’s a man’s world.
The men in the House said, upon divorce, the property should be shared according to the contribution made in the marriage. Majority Leader Aden Duale (Garissa Town) even told his colleagues that they were legislating on “bedroom matters”, which ideally, should be sorted out between a man and his wife or wives.
There was heated debate, as the male lawmakers questioned why after paying dowry for a bride, they have to go ahead and share the matrimonial property on a fifty-fifty basis.
But the female lawmakers shot back that while the husbands go out to make money, they stay behind to “cook, wash their husband’s clothes, and take care of the children”, all which are non-monetary contribution to a marriage, which the female MPs believed granted them half of the matrimonial property.
When the matter was placed to vote, 87 lawmakers voted to have the property shared according to the contribution made; three MPs abstained, and 28 MPs voted to back the proposal for a fifty-fifty sharing of the matrimonial property.
There were 34 women MPs in the House, an indication that some of the women are also wary about men who come into marriages just to split the property.
As they approved to have matrimonial assets shared according to input, they included amendments to make sure that debts are shared equally among the spouses, if it was incurred “for the benefit of the marriage”.
The push and pull over matrimonial property came as MPs put the final touches on the Matrimonial Property Bill, 2013 before they sent it to President Uhuru Kenyatta for his assent. After the changes, they approved the Bill and sent it to the President.
“We have not come from Venus. When you marry a lady, you do so when you’re slightly older, in that period a man has made a few coins and bought some property. The issue of fifty-fifty is never applicable in the African context. We want the sharing to be based on the contribution. You don’t need someone to come here and come hang around and walk away with half of your property when they never contributed anything,” said Asman Kamama (Tiaty).
The chairman of the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee Samuel Chepkonga (Ainabkoi) led MPs in pushing for the amendments to make sure that spouses get what they bring into the marriage.
Male MPs in the National Assembly used their numerical strength to defeat a controversial clause that sought to have matrimonial property shared fifty-fifty upon dissolution of the marriage.
Their message to their women colleagues was: It’s a man’s world.
The men in the House said, upon divorce, the property should be shared according to the contribution made in the marriage. Majority Leader Aden Duale (Garissa Town) even told his colleagues that they were legislating on “bedroom matters”, which ideally, should be sorted out between a man and his wife or wives.
There was heated debate, as the male lawmakers questioned why after paying dowry for a bride, they have to go ahead and share the matrimonial property on a fifty-fifty basis.
But the female lawmakers shot back that while the husbands go out to make money, they stay behind to “cook, wash their husband’s clothes, and take care of the children”, all which are non-monetary contribution to a marriage, which the female MPs believed granted them half of the matrimonial property.
When the matter was placed to vote, 87 lawmakers voted to have the property shared according to the contribution made; three MPs abstained, and 28 MPs voted to back the proposal for a fifty-fifty sharing of the matrimonial property.
There were 34 women MPs in the House, an indication that some of the women are also wary about men who come into marriages just to split the property.
As they approved to have matrimonial assets shared according to input, they included amendments to make sure that debts are shared equally among the spouses, if it was incurred “for the benefit of the marriage”.
The push and pull over matrimonial property came as MPs put the final touches on the Matrimonial Property Bill, 2013 before they sent it to President Uhuru Kenyatta for his assent. After the changes, they approved the Bill and sent it to the President.
“We have not come from Venus. When you marry a lady, you do so when you’re slightly older, in that period a man has made a few coins and bought some property. The issue of fifty-fifty is never applicable in the African context. We want the sharing to be based on the contribution. You don’t need someone to come here and come hang around and walk away with half of your property when they never contributed anything,” said Asman Kamama (Tiaty).
The chairman of the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee Samuel Chepkonga (Ainabkoi) led MPs in pushing for the amendments to make sure that spouses get what they bring into the marriage.
The Bill will be presented to the President in the next seven days.
The amendment part was presided over by Ms Rachel Shebesh (Nairobi), who dismissed protests from women MPs that the Bill was unconstitutional.
The Third Reading was presided over by Deputy Speaker Joyce Laboso.
Source:- Standard Media Group
