Kenyan Catholic bishops have decried what they say is a shortage of marriage certificates in the country.
In a statement, the bishops said they have been experiencing difficulties in the legal process of civil registration and the legalisation of marriages, a situation they argue threatens the institution of marriage.
At the beginning of the year, the Office of the Attorney-General announced the discontinuation of manual printing and issuance of Registrar’s Certificates and Special Licences for marriages, marking a shift to fully digital services under the government’s e-Citizen platform.
Under the new system, all Registrar’s Certificates and Special Licences for civil, Christian, and Hindu marriages are generated and downloaded exclusively through the e-Citizen portal.
The clergy regretted that the process of notification and obtaining certificates had become unnecessarily arduous.
“The clearance process is slow and at times insensitive to the time and dates set. Moreover, we are now experiencing a shortage of marriage certificates”, they said.
They said the conditions had led to a decline in marriages and are affecting the moral fabric of society as well as depriving the weaker spouses of their legal rights.
“These conditions have discouraged many from contracting marriage, as the statistics show. This is bound to cause a moral dent to the society, and risks depriving the weaker spouses of their legal rights”, Chairman of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops, Most Rev, Maurice Muhatia Makumba said.
Muhatia said the institution of marriage must be protected at all costs.
“We as a country must protect and promote the institution of marriage as provided in the Constitution of Kenya (Article 45). When our families and the institution of marriage are strong, our society thrives”, he said.
