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It wasn't until 2019, that the High Court, through Judge Joel Ngugi ruled that men can be allowed sole custody of children, revoking a long-held view that only women are primary caregivers.
Custody judgements have always been biased against men,courtesy of patriarchy https://twitter.com/ntvkenya/status/1264906597018583040
Custody judgements have always been biased against men,courtesy of patriarchy https://twitter.com/ntvkenya/status/1264906597018583040
The ruling arose from a child custody battle between an estranged couple which parted ways after the man caught his wife in their matrimonial bed with their house boy.
The man, named in court records as JKN, lost custody of his two children in 2014. The magistrate’s court then ruled that it was impossible for him to have child custody as he was required to be out fending for the family.
The magistrate ruled that it was safer for the children’s mother to take custody rather than them ending up under the care of house helps.
“Although,the plaintiff was categorical that he will personally supervise the housegirls,I find that this may work for a short while as a man,he shall from time to time be required to attend to his bread-winning duties and will soon leave the duties to the house girls”-magistrate
“The other question I ask is,and which is the reality, if the said house girls walk out on the plaintiff in the middle of his bread-winning duties, what will happen? If I am to call a spade a spade, it is difficult for a man to take the role of care giving,”-Magistrate M. Otindo
But JKN appealed at the High Court where Justice Ngugi said it was wrong to assume that men are naturally meant to be the breadwinners and women to be caregivers.
He said that the finding by the magistrate could also send a message that “good” mothers stay home with their children while “good” fathers go out to “win bread” for the family.
“With tremendous respect,I find this reasoning to be dangerously problematic. It does no favours to women to espouse these kinds of stereotypes. Moreover,relying on the stereotypes to reach a verdict on an individual and specific case is unfair to the parties”-Justice Ngugi
According to the judge, child custody, whether actual or legal, should not be given to one parent or person alone. He said the Children’s Act envisages that custody should either be shared or joint
He ruled that both parents have a right to participate and make input in the major decisions concerning the children including but not limited to the educational, religious, and medical.
When caught in bed with their house help,the wife decided to go away with him,abandoning the children who were 5 and 4 yrs old at the time. He then employed a house help to take care of their two children, who were 12 and 11 years by the time she came back/the ruling was made
