High Court Defers Ruling on Decriminalizing Homosexuality in Kenya

The High Court has postponed the much-awaited ruling on decriminalizing homosexuality in Kenya.

The ruling by Justices Roselyne Aburili, John Mativo, and Chacha Mwita was set to be made on Friday but has been pushed to May, 2019.

Speaking in court on Friday, Justice Mwita said the ruling has been postponed because the judgment is not ready.

Mwita said judges involved in the case have been busy and such have not been able to write a judgment.

Gay rights organizations filed the case in 2016 seeking to have the law that criminalizes same-sex relationships in Kenya scrapped on grounds that the law is unconstitutional.

Parts of Kenya’s penal code states that anyone who has “carnal knowledge… against the order of nature” can be imprisoned for up to 14 years.

Another section recommends a five-year jail sentence for “indecent practices between males”.

In an interview last year, President Kenyatta termed gay rights as a non-issue in Kenya, adding that majority of Kenyans do not support homosexuality.

“I want to be very clear, I will not engage in any subject that is not of any major importance to the people and the Republic of Kenya. This is not an issue of human rights, this is an issue of society, of our own base as a culture as a people regardless of which society you come from. This is not acceptable, this is not agreeable,” Kenyatta said at the time.

“Those are the laws that we have and those are the laws that are 100 percent supported by 99 percent of Kenyans regardless of where they come from,” he added.