- The High Court in Kitale will hear submissions on October 2 challenging laws governing Christian marriages.
- Petitioner Boniface Ndura Koimburi argues the monogamy requirement infringes constitutional protections on religion and equality.
- Nyongesa Wekesa reports the case also questions how Christian marriage is presented in Kenya’s education curriculum.
The High Court in Kitale will on October 2 hear submissions in a constitutional petition challenging Kenya’s legal restriction of Christian marriages to monogamous unions. The October 2 date is confirmed by current reporting on the proceedings.
The case, filed by Kitale-based author and environmentalist Boniface Ndura Koimburi, has placed the intersection of religious freedom, marriage law and constitutional rights under renewed scrutiny.
Justice Robert Limo directed the parties to prepare for the highlighting of submissions during a mention on Tuesday, after the Office of the Attorney General finally filed its submissions on August 19. The court also directed both sides to provide the authorities they intend to rely on.
The petition, filed in September 2024, challenges provisions of the Penal Code and Marriage Act that prevent a person married under Christian rites from entering another legally recognised marriage while the first union remains valid. The court record identifies the matter as Constitutional Petition E018 of 2024.
Marriage laws challenged
Under Section 171 of the Penal Code, a person who goes through a marriage ceremony while having a living husband or wife commits bigamy, an offence punishable by up to five years in prison.
Section 6(2) of the Marriage Act separately provides that Christian, Hindu and civil marriages are monogamous, while marriages celebrated under customary or Islamic law are recognised as polygamous or potentially polygamous.
Mr Koimburi argues that the distinction violates constitutional protections on equality and freedom of religion. In his petition, he says constitutional protections should allow Christians whose religious convictions accommodate polygamy to practise their beliefs. His challenge to Section 171 on freedom-of-religion grounds is reflected in the High Court record.
He has also questioned the portrayal of Christian marriage in the national education curriculum, asking the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development to review the Christian Religious Education syllabus to recognise the existence of differing interpretations of marriage within Christianity.
The petitioner has cited biblical figures including Abraham, Jacob and King Solomon in advancing his argument that polygamy has existed within biblical traditions. He has further argued that recognising such unions could provide alternative family arrangements for some people facing circumstances such as single parenthood and divorce.
The petition has, however, encountered opposition from traditional Christian interpretations of marriage, with church leaders and theologians maintaining that the Christian model is monogamous.
They point to New Testament teachings, including the description of church leaders as the “husband of one wife”, as evidence of the standard expected within the Christian faith. They also distinguish biblical accounts of polygamous figures from an explicit endorsement of polygamy as a Christian institution.
Court to consider constitutional questions
The legal question before the court is also complicated by the fact that Kenya already recognises polygamous marriages under certain systems of law.
The Marriage Act defines marriage as the voluntary union of a man and a woman in either a monogamous or polygamous union and provides for equal rights and obligations between parties to a marriage.
Kenyan courts have previously held that a person who enters a Christian or civil marriage acquires a monogamous union and cannot contract another marriage under a system permitting polygamy while the first marriage remains in force.
The case has already generated significant procedural interest. In September 2025, Justice Limo declined an application to have the matter heard by a three-judge bench, finding that the threshold for empanelment under Article 165(4) had not been met. The court held that the issues could be determined by a single judge. The ruling was delivered on September 18, 2025.
The October 2 hearing will therefore give the parties an opportunity to present their substantive arguments on whether Kenya’s current distinction between Christian monogamous marriages and other forms of marriage is compatible with the Constitution.
The case could have implications beyond the petitioner, particularly on the relationship between freedom of religion, equality before the law and the State’s regulation of marriage.
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For now, the High Court is expected to determine the constitutional questions on the basis of the law and arguments presented by the parties, rather than settle the theological debate over whether Christianity permits polygamy.
By Nyongesa Wekesa
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