Authored by Francis B. Joseph ABSTRACT Like some other African countries, Kenya has the legal age of consent at 18 years. The legal age of consent is a crucial facet of legal and social frameworks concerning sexual relationships. This has had the effect of restricting adolescent consensual sexual conduct. Legislation does not explicitly criminalize consensual adolescent sexual conduct. However, punitive approaches have been put in place to curb such conduct. Adolescents have therefore been subjected to violation of their rights. The laws put in place are not necessarily benevolent to the adolescents who it is designed to protect from harm. This article provides a comprehensive analysis of the legal age of consent in Kenya, examining the statutory frameworks on it and its effect on sexual relations among adolescents. Through a comparative lens, the article briefly looks into the legal age of consent in other African jurisdictions. By synthesizing these different aspects, thi...
Joshua Kenga Arome Photo credits; People Daily February the 9th, 2024 saw Her Ladyship Lady Justice Grace Nzioka of the High Court give a long waited for judgment in the case of Republic v Joseph Kuria Irungu alias Jowie and Jacqueline Wanjiru Maribe , (High Court Criminal Case No. 51 of 2018) whereby the first accused was convicted of the offence of murder contrary to Section 203 as read with Section 204 of the Penal Code. The second accused was acquitted of the charge in the absence of evidence connecting her to the alleged crime, however, not without the Judge directing the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to prefer another charge against her. What has sparked debate in various groups, laymen and legal intellectuals, is the doctrine of last person seen that served as what I would term the ratio decidendi of the judgment to find the first accused guilty of murdering one Monica Kimani. It seems the lawyers frowned upon the Judg...
Hannah Wanjiku Kimani. According to an omnibus study carried out between June 29 and July 11, 2023, 57% of Kenyan adults are married, and the country's divorce rate is below 1%. With a sampling error of +/-1.8 percent, the survey was performed among 3,000 respondents who were at least 18 years old and were spread over all 47 counties. In order to ensure fair distribution of marital property between spouses, the Federation of Women Lawyers in Kenya (FIDA- Federación Internacional dé Abogadas -Kenya), an NGO that promotes women's rights, partook in a High Court case; J. O. O v M. B. O as an interested party. The Matrimonial Property Act no 49 of 2013, according to FIDA-Kenya, violates some parts of the Kenyan Constitution that ensure equality before, after and at the dissolution of marriage. They contended that married women are discriminated against both directly and indirectly during the dissolution of their marriages by sections 6 and 7 of the 2013 act. Sharing ma...