This archive report was first published on 27 September 2019.
On September 27, 2019, the High Court of Kenya made a landmark ruling that has significant implications for couples married through the civil process.
Until this ruling, the law required partners in civil marriages to wait for at least three years before filing for divorce.
However, High Court Justice Reuben Nyakundi ruled that marriage is a union of willing partners and that they should be free to end it at any time.
Justice Nyakundi declared section 66 (1) of the Marriage Act unconstitutional, stating that the three-year limitation had the effect of forcing people to stay in failed marriages.
He argued that there was no justification for imposing a three-year waiting period, and that it was an affront to human dignity to confine people in failed marriages.
The judge also questioned why the same condition was not imposed on other types of marriages, such as Christian, Muslim, Hindu, and traditional marriages.
