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Lobby wants deadbeat parents denied vital State documents

Father holding baby .
As debate rages over a proposed amendment to the Children’s Act by Murang’a Senator Irungu Kang’ata seeking to rein in deadbeat parents, a pressure group wants more State agencies added to the list of those that can lock out irresponsible parents.
Children Maintenance Service, an organisation that helps women pursue cases touching on family matters, yesterday said the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) and Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission should be included on the list of proposed agencies that should deny vital documents to parents who neglect their responsibilities.
Addressing journalists in Nairobi, the group’s national coordinator Rhoda Kibunja said those agencies ought to be added to the ones Mr Kang’ata wants to be ordered to blacklist unsupportive parents.
RULE OF LAW
“We are a country that observes the rule of law. If we are seeing loopholes in trying to enforce court orders, then it is only fair that we can have legislative assistance to seal these loopholes,” Ms Kibunja said.
In his draft, Mr Kang’ata has proposed that county governments deny licences to businesses run by parents who are disobeying court orders regarding child maintenance.
He also wants the inclusion of all Kenyan employers, and that the Immigration Department should bar such people from travelling out of the country.
The senator also proposes that the police deny runaway parents a certificate of good conduct and that credit reference bureaus list them in the adverse category.
On Saturday, Ms Kibunja said denial of service will help women who have been suffering for a long time trying to have men honour orders of children’s courts.
She said that in its current form, the Children’s Act, now 18 years old, requires women to wage wars where they are easily bound to fail.
CIVIL JAIL
The options are attaching the salary of the deadbeat parent or having the parent sent to civil jail — which causes more strain on the woman as she has to get a bailiff, secure the services of police to enforce the order and also pay for the deadbeat to be jailed.
“That is money that people cannot afford,” she said.
“The other option that is there is of attaching property. Attachment of property again requires that you have a bailiff. You also require police and auctioneers,” added Ms Kibunja.
The organisation also asked the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics to come up with a child maintenance calculator “to be used by courts to formulate and make determination on child maintenance order”.
MAINTAINANCE
Ms Kibunja noted that currently, the money that a parent should pay per month for maintenance is left to the discretion of a judge or magistrate.
“I think it depends on what side the judge woke up on that day,” she said.
Noting that both mothers and fathers lie a lot in court cases regarding their financial capabilities, she said having a definite formula will make matters easier.
“To bring about a more decisive calculation of maintenance, we need a multi-agency approach where you derive a formula,” she said. “This has been used in other progressive jurisdictions as well, and we don’t see why it cannot work here.”
Mr Kang’ata told the Sunday Nation that his draft is in the Senate’s legal office and that it is likely to proceed to the floor of the assembly in about a month.
“Note that the bill is not aimed at ‘fathers’ only; even irresponsible mothers. Data shows there has been an upsurge of neglected children. If unchecked, this will impact society negatively,” he said.

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