NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 28 — Senate Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot (Kericho) and his National Assembly counterpart Kimani Ichung’wah (Kikuyu) have termed Friday’s ruling of the Supreme Court of Kenya on gay rights as absurd.
Cheruiyout condemned what he called a ruling against the natural law of justice which could erode the moral ethos of young folk.
“There is a serious contradiction, in that you cannot tell me that, what I am engaged in, is illegality as per the laws of the land but then go ahead to give me an illegality to caucus and have a union of the same illegality. That is what we find to be completely absurd, we know about our Constitution as a basis of the foundation of a good society,” he noted.
Ichung’wah said gay rights are a nonpriority for Kenyans and further pointed out that the Kenyan law clearly stipulates that homosexuality is illegal and the majority of Kenyans support that.
“I want to affirm our position as Leader of Majority in the National Assembly; we are not in anyway in any near future going to be reviewing the penal code and all related laws. As the ruling party and a leader, our priority now is on the economy and nothing but the economy,” the Kikuyu MP stressed.
In its verdict on Friday, the Supreme Court reprimanded the NGOs Co-Ordination Board for refusing to register an LGBTQ organization on the grounds that same-sex marriage is outlawed in Kenya.
Three judges in the five-judge bench ruled that community members have a right to associate even though the law considers same-sex marriages illegal. The court hence declared the refusal to register them was discriminatory and contravened the law.
