Maternity Leave For Mothers Adopting Children Rejected

President Uhuru Kenyatta has rejected the bid to grant maternity leave to parents of adopted children or those born through surrogacy.

The President expressed reservations with the proposal by Gilgil MP Martha Wangari. She sought that women who adopt children be granted 90 days, just like those on maternity, while men were to be granted two weeks.

The President returned the Bill to Parliament with a memorandum citing the absence of a substantive legal and regulatory framework governing surrogacy in Kenya. The Employment (Amendment) Bill, 2019, posited that a parent of a child born through surrogacy shall be entitled to parental leave with full pay.

Amongst the reasons for his reservations, he notes that amending the law in the manner proposed in the Bill will lead to surrogacy agreements operating in a vacuum in terms of the absence of a substantive legal and regulatory framework governing surrogacy in Kenya.

He also objects to the proposal on grounds that the provisions relating to surrogate motherhood agreements are of a substantive nature hence necessitating the formulation of a comprehensive policy arrived at after broad public participation

He directed the bill to be reconsidered by the Labour Committee but would require two-thirds of members to overturn the president’s veto.

Among other issues the president pointed out is the need for a comprehensive policy developed through public participation. There are concerns of weak adoption laws that have exposed hundreds of Kenyan children to abuse and exploitation.

A report by a committee of experts appointed by the Labour ministry in December 2017 revealed that there are more Kenyans seeking to adopt children than the adoption societies can provide.

Kenya lacks a law on surrogacy, a method of assisted childbirth where parents commission a woman to give birth on their behalf. Under the current law, a child born through a surrogacy still needs to be adopted through a court process.

According to President Uhuru Kenyatta, he said that while surrogacy is a novel reproductive science, it touches on children, reproductive rights, and the concept of family, and therefore there is a need to first put in place a rigorous substantive law.

“Where a child is born as a result of a surrogate motherhood agreement, an employee who is a commissioning parent shall be entitled to two consecutive months parental leave with full pay from the date the child is born in the case of a female employee and two weeks paternal leave with full pay, in the case of a male employee who is married,” the Bill states.