Parental Responsibility over children to vest equally in both parents in proposed changes to the law – The Children (Amendment) Bill, 2020 (“Bill”) seeks to amend the Children Act (“Act”) by vesting equal responsibility for parental care and protection of a child in both parents of that child. Further, the Bill provides that neither the father nor mother of the child shall have a superior right or claim against the other in the exercise of such parental responsibility. In the proposed changes, the provisions of the Act that vested parental responsibility in the mother at the first instance, and allowed the father to acquire parental responsibility later have been repealed. Consequently, it will be mandatory for parents, whether married to each other or not, to have equal parental responsibility over their child. The proposed amendments are in line with Article 53(1) of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 which provides that both parents to a child have equal responsibility to provide for and protect that child.
