The hearing of a constitutional petition challenging the legality of Kenya’s bigamy laws was postponed on Thursday after a legal officer from the Office of the Attorney General (AG) failed to appear in court due to illness.
The submissions hearing, which was scheduled to begin today before the High Court in Kitale, has now been deferred to January 15, 2026. The court was expected to give directions on the determination of the petition.
“We will abide by the directions given by the court as we wait for the submissions of the Attorney General,” said the petitioners’ advocate, Wanyama Mutaki.
Earlier, the High Court had declined a request to empanel a three-judge bench to hear the petition, which questions the constitutionality of Kenya’s bigamy laws and aspects of the Christian Religious Education (CRE) curriculum.
Presiding Judge Robert Limo ruled that although the petition raises novel legal issues and matters of public interest, it does not meet the constitutional threshold required for referral to the Chief Justice for the formation of a larger bench.
The petition was filed by Bonface Ndura, an environmentalist and author of Polygamists Will Also Go to Heaven, who argues that Kenya’s current marriage laws unfairly discriminate against Christians who believe in polygamy.
He contends that key provisions of the Penal Code and the Marriage Act—which enshrine monogamy in Christian marriages—violate Articles 32 and 45 of the Constitution, which protect freedom of religion and the right to marry based on personal beliefs.
“The modern legal imposition of monogamy is a colonial relic that contradicts traditional Christian teachings,” Ndura states in his petition. He cites biblical figures such as Abraham, Jacob, and King Solomon as examples of polygamous Christians accepted in scripture.
The petitioner further argues that permitting polygamy could help address rising rates of single parenthood and divorce by offering “a more stable family structure” within certain communities.
Justice Limo, however, emphasized that the Constitution empowers any High Court judge to hear and determine constitutional petitions within their jurisdiction.
He also noted that only the first respondent had filed submissions, while the Attorney General and other parties had not participated in the matter, making it difficult to justify a multi-judge panel at this stage.
In his ruling, Justice Limo declined to refer the case to the Chief Justice, citing insufficient justification and limited judicial resources.
The petition seeks to have specific sections of the Penal Code and Marriage Act declared unconstitutional to allow Christians who support polygamy to legally marry more than one wife—thereby achieving parity with Muslim marriage laws.
