Nairobi, March 3. Kenyan President William Ruto has assured that he will not allow same-sex marriage as it goes against the culture and tradition of his country, local media reported today.
Ruto spoke out on the case on Thursday in reaction to the February 24 ruling by Kenya’s Supreme Court, which rejected an appeal by the Kenyan government seeking to ban the legal registration of a human rights organization. locals in the LGBTIQ Collective (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Queer).
“I am a God-fearing man. Although we respect the court, our religion, traditions, laws and customs do not allow women to marry women, nor men to marry men,” said the president during an act in Nairobi. Women’s day.
“Don’t worry. It will happen elsewhere, it won’t happen in Kenya. We know there are a lot of people spreading this idea, our kids in college are under pressure from these dirty teachings,” insisted The head of state.
Similarly, Ruto called on “all religious leaders in the country to stand firm and educate our children and Kenyans so that we do not lose our customs, Christian and Islamic religious beliefs to platforms that preach foreign concepts.”
A similar view was voiced by opposition leader former Prime Minister Raila Odinga at a separate event in Nairobi on Thursday.
“Section 45(2) of our Constitution establishes that every adult has the right to marry a person of the opposite sex based on the free consent of the parties and that is the law,” Odinga pointed out, alleging that the power judiciary exceeded in its mandate authorizing the registration of homosexual groups.
“It is not the function of the judiciary to make laws. If there is a loophole, it is up to Parliament to amend the laws”, declared the leader of the opposition before the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya (CIPK) in the Kenyan capital.
While the Kenyan Constitution only provides for marriage between members of the opposite sex, the penal code punishes “unnatural” sexual relations with up to fourteen years in prison.
Of the nearly 70 countries that criminalize same-sex relations worldwide, 33 are in Africa, where most such laws are inherited from colonial times. EFE
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