•Payment should stop immediately Masinde Muliro University student completes diploma course in sports administration, expected to end by December 2020.
• Father said he had no obligations daughter is 23 years old.
A 23-year-old university student is lucky.
Eighteen is the age of adulthood, after which parents are not compelled to support their children, unless they wish to do so.
But High Court judge Juma Chitembwe made an exception in the case of Jattane Jeremiah, a student at Masinde Muliro University.
Chitembwe revised the orders of a magistrate's court and lowered the amount awarded to a Jattane for upkeep and maintenance from Sh18,000 to Sh13,000. Her father had protested that Sh18,000 was too much and said the trial court erred in law.
Further, the payment is to stop immediately Jattane completes her diploma course in sports administration and management, expected by December 2020.
The judge acknowledged that the father, Jeremiah Haile, 60, has other children to take care of.
The court orders may appear oppressive to the appellant but the end result is to assist the respondent in her future life, the judge said. The ruling was in December but it came to light today.
On May 8, 2019, Jattane filed a case before the Marsabit senior resident magistrates' court seeking a declaration of parental responsibility against her father. She also sought an extension of parental responsibility beyond the age of adulthood, 18 years.
Although the respondent (Jattane) is an adult, she still needs that parental support until she completes her education …this is not endless support as the respondent’s studies will come to an end soon.Judge Juma Chitembwe
“The respondent sought an order requiring the appellant (Father) to pay a monthly contribution of Sh25,000 for her upkeep and the father to be compelled to pay school fees in a timely fashion as the fees became due,” court papers read.
However, the trial court granted the second-year student Sh18,000 monthly for upkeep on condition that she is in college, and therefore extended parental responsibility.
The father appealed, calling the decision excessive, harsh and exorbitant.
He said the trial court erred in law and fact by misapplying the order of extension of parental responsibility towards the respondent after she turned 18.
But judge Chitembwe said Sh10,000 is sufficient to cater for her monthly requirements while the Sh3,000 balance will pay her rent.
“Although the respondent (Jattane) is an adult, she still needs that parental support until she completes her education …this is not endless support as the respondent’s studies will come to an end soon,” the court ruled.
Jattane alleged that the father earns about Sh100,000 monthly and despite earlier taking her to Meru Polytechnic, he paid fees for one term only and she later had to drop out for lack of fees.
She later joined Masinde Muliro University. She said her mother has been struggling as there is another young child in school.
In court papers, she called her father a man of means who lives in a six-bedroom bungalow, doing farming and having rental houses.
Through his lawyer, however, Haile said he was involved in a road accident which has incapacitated him making him unable to earn a living from his masonry work.
“The amount of 18,000 is excessive and he is not capable of raising that amount… He relies upon assistance from his other children for school fees for his younger children,” his lawyer said.
Now he only has to pay Sh10,000.
(Edited by V. Graham)