MPs Back Bill Placing 50-50 Responsibility for Children on Both Parents

MPs have approved a bill seeking to place equal parental responsibility for children on both the father and mother.

The Children (Amendment) Bill, 2020 makes it compulsory for parents, married or not, to share the upkeep cost of children equally.

The bill, which seeks to amend section 24 of the Children Act of 2001, received the support of the National Assembly Committee on Labor and Social Welfare.

Homa Bay Town MP Peter Kaluma, who sponsored the bill, wants parents compelled to take equal responsibility for their kids, including those born out of wedlock or whose parents have divorced.

“The Bill seeks to vest equal responsibility for parental care and protection of a child in both the mother and father whether they are married to each other or not,” the committee said in its report.

The existing law puts the primary parental responsibility for a child on mothers in cases where they are unmarried while the father can only take responsibility through court order or agreement with the mother.

Further, Kaluma’s bill proposes that both parents be granted equal rights, a move that is expected to reduce child custody disputes in the country.

“Nor the father nor the mother shall have a superior right or claim against the other in the exercise of such parental responsibility,” the bill states.