Kenya: Must a Father’s Name be on the Birth Certificate of a Child?
Published: 6/Jun/2016
Source: Kituo Cha Sheria (Nairobi)
By Samantha Oswago and Wangari Karige
The High Court in its ruling dated May 26th 2016 stated that women may now register the names of the fathers of children, born outside marriage without their consent on the birth certificate. Lady Justice Mumbi Ngugi ruled that all birth records may include the father’s name. Further, the court declared Section 12 of the Births and Deaths Registration Act unconstitutional.
Section 12 of the Births and Deaths Registration Act Unconstitutional
Section 12 of the Births and Deaths Registration Act states that no person shall be entered in the register of births as the father of a child “except either at the joint request of the father and mother” or upon proof to the Registrar that the father and mother of the child were married to each other in accordance with the law.
When the Act was enacted there was no DNA test or conclusive method of determining the validity of any unmarried woman’s claim. Further, women generally at the time did not get children out of marriage and their claims would therefore be unsubstantiated. Where a father expressly prohibited the mother from including his name in the Birth Certificate, he was backed by the law. The effect of such a law is the large number of single mothers in our society with little to no financial backing from the fathers of these children. Therefore, an undue burden is placed on the mothers of these children whilst the father is left to go without any parental responsibility.
Whereby there was no father acknowledged, there was the practice of placing the “XXXX” marks on the birth certificates of children born outside marriage. The placing of such marks obliterates the genesis and background of a child and gives incorrect information. Consequently this obliterates a child’s history and background information, inadvertently flying in the face of constitutional provisions on the right to information and health.
Read further on Kituo Cha Sheria website.