“The Responsibility To A Child Is Equal,”Judge Makes Landmark Ruling

The responsibility of taking care of children after a couple separates is equal according to a landmark ruling made by the High Court in Nairobi’s Milimani Law Courts.

A man and a woman are equally responsible for their children in the scenario that they separate according to the ruling made by Justice Abida Ali Aroni which sets a precedent on couples that sue their ex for financial support.

Making the ruling Justice Abida noted that separated parents ought to shoulder parental responsibility equally and this will be a major obstacle for a majority of parents especially women who sue their children’s fathers for financial support.

Justice Aroni said that Section 24 of the Children’s Act “where a child’s father and mother were married, to each other at the time of his birth, they shall have parental responsibility for the child and neither the father nor the mother of the child shall have a superior right or claim against the other in the exercise of such parental responsibility”.

Justice Aroni ruled on a case where a father was challenging a previous court decision where he was ordered to pay a bigger financial portion as financial support to his three-year-old by his ex-wife.

The man had previously been ordered to pay 97,000 shillings to cater to the three-year-old’s school fees, 20,000 shillings a month for the 3-year-old’s feeding, and still cater for miscellaneous costs at the child’s school.

The mother who demanded financial support for the 3-year-old minor on the other hand was to cater to the nannies cost, the minor’s clothing, and shelter.

The court decision which the man had moved to the high court to challenge had been made on 13th September 2019 and also granted him access to his 3-year-old to start on Saturdays, Sundays, and half of the school holidays with both the mother and father required by the order to have a health cover for the child.

The man had challenged the 13th September 2019 Court order on Child Support terming it excessive and beyond his means arguing that since the child’s mother also had income, they should shoulder the cost equally which Judge Aroni agreed to.

Judge Aroni noted that both parties were in salaried employment and earned a substantial income so that none of them needed to be hard-pressed or require either to take up more responsibility than the other.

Judge Aroni hence ordered that the man and his ex-wife share the school fees and the miscellaneous cost by the school and for the man to only pay 10,000 shillings for the child’s monthly feeding.

The child’s mother was however vehemently against the ruling arguing that it was the father who had chosen the school and even paid a deposit without ever complaining that it was expensive.

The ruling on the child support case by Judge creates a precedent that unfortunately favors deadbeat fathers whom women have to result to the courts to force them to be a part of their children’s life.

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