Cape Verde >> Kenya, Recommendation, 35th Session, February 2020

Noted. This recommendation did not enjoy the Government’s support based on the fact that polygamy is a deeply entrenched practice under customary law, which is both historical and philosophical. The Marriage Act 2014 recognizes and codifies polygamy as part of customary marriages. All registered marriages under the Act have the same legal status, whether polygamous or monogamous. ... Prior to the enactment of the Marriage Act, customary marriages were not regulated by law, thus rendering them informal and uncertain as their legitimacy could only be confirmed and formally recognized through court judgments and rulings. Prior to the enactment of the Act, women in polygamous unions lost their property and other marital benefits due to evidentiary difficulties involved in proving the existence of a customary marriage. There are cases where women who are married under customary law have been denied the right to inherit the estate of their deceased spouses due to the difficulty of proving the existence of such unions. ... Kenya avers that polygamous marriages do not violate a woman’s right to equality and non-discrimination on basis that adult couples have the discretion to freely choose, from the very onset, the kind of union they prefer. Those adults who choose voluntarily to contract a monogamous marriage cannot later contract another marriage, unless in the event of divorce or death. Similarly, no person in a polygamous marriage can contract a monogamous marriage. A polygamous marriage can later be converted into a monogamous one, as long as at that time there is only one wife.