[Source: The Standard, by Kamau Muthoni]
The Court of Appeal has ended a woman’s attempt to move to the Supreme Court and contest a finding that she was married to a man who is claiming his share of property that is registered in her name.
Mary Nyambura had asked the court to allow her contest its finding that her long cohabitation with Paul Ogari amounted to marriage.
According to Ms Nyambura, it is against the Constitution for a court to impose a marriage where there is dispute on whether both parties had mutually agreed to live as husband and wife.
Her lawyer, Mithega Mugambi, had argued that Nyambura was married to another man hence could not qualify to marry Ogari.
However, Ogari’s lawyer, Moses Siagi, opposed the case saying it was not of public interest. He argued that the issues raised in the application were not before the High Court hence they should not be allowed to spill to the top court.
The verdict of the three-judge bench was divided, with two judges declining to allow her application while the third judge said the case raised noble questions for the Supreme Court to settle.
Justices Sankale ole Kantai and Wanjiru Karanja held that Nyambura did not deserve to go to the top court because her issues were private.
They also said Nyambura had not raised the issue of consent in her divorce papers against Ogari before a magistrate’s court in 2011, and again in 2014 before the High Court where Ogari sought the court’s intervention to stop her from selling their property.
Justice Martha Koome, in her dissenting opinion, agreed that the Supreme Court ought to decide whether a man can marry a woman without consent.
The judge also opined that the top court ought to interpret what men who live off women should prove in court while seeking a share of matrimonial property.
Ogari’s argument was that they had bought the property in 1991 and only registered it in Nyambura’s name because the seller was not keen to sell to a non-Kikuyu. Hence the title’s name read Mary Nyambura Paul.
He argued that their come-we-stay relationship amounted to marriage, adding that he had contributed towards the contested building’s construction. Ogari produced documents showing they had bought the land on which the building stood for Sh100,000.
He also showed receipts in his name for when he had applied for electricity and sewerage connections.
[Full article: The Standard, by Kamau Muthoni]
