Police officer jailed for 14 days over Sh144,000 child upkeep payment
A police officer was on Tuesday jailed for 14 days after he failed to pay Sh144,000 for child upkeep.
Mr Nathan Nyakundi, who is an officer attached to Kimulot Police Station in Konoin Sub-County, Bomet County, had gone to Ogembo Law Courts to attend to his civil matter involving child upkeep when the order was issued.
“Mr Nyakundi was attending his case number 25/2018 and was committed to the Government of Kenya prisons in Kisii for 14 days,” said a police update issued by Zeleah Akiru the Officer Commanding Station at Ogembo Police Station.
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According to the update, Mr Nyakundi had defaulted the court’s order to pay Sh144,000 to his spouse Ms Beatrice Orenge. It is then that the court ordered that he remits the amount within 14 days’ failure to which it will issue its next course of action.
In Kenya child custody has become an emotive issue when the relationship between the parents’ heads south. When the parents of a child do not agree as to who will stay with the child, the resultant dispute is a child custody dispute.
Issues involving child custody will normally also attract resultant questions with regard to who maintains children and child support.
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Section 81 of the Kenyan constitution of the Children’s Act Number 8 of 2001 Laws of Kenya, defines child custody to be so much of the parental rights and duties as relate to the possession of the child.
According to the Kenyan law, child maintenance refers to the duties of parents to provide for the basic needs of the child. The basic needs of the child include food, shelter, clothing, education and medical provision.
Article 53 (1)(e) of the Constitution provides that a child has the right to equal responsibility from both parents to maintain the child. On this basis, the Children’s Court will take into account the above needs of the child and then split the needs equally between the parents by the consequent making of a maintenance order.
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