Wedding called off over certificate hitch

A wedding in Bungoma was called off last Saturday after the couple’s church failed to obtain recently introduced marriage certificates in time.

Mr Justus Waliaula and Ms Caroline Musike had sent out invitations to friends and family members and even prepared an elaborate feast to celebrate their wedding.

However, when they appeared before the priest at Christ is the King Catholic Church, they were told that their wedding could not take place because there was no marriage certificate to be issued to them.

“We expected everything to be smooth on our wedding day, but it proved to be different. We were told that there were no marriage certificates to be issued,” said Mr Waliaula.

He, however, insisted that the ceremony continues since they had invited many people.

“We could not stop the ceremony, so we requested the priest to pray and bless us. He later told us to come back for a proper wedding when the documents arrive,” said Mr Waliaula.

The incident comes in the wake of the government’s notice asking all church ministers to return the old certificate books and obtain new ones so that all weddings can be conducted under the new Marriage Act.

Fr Christopher Wanyonyi of Christ is the King Catholic Church said they had complied with the Attorney-General’s order, returned the old marriage certificates and applied for new ones.

“We have returned the old documents and applied for new ones and we are waiting for feedback from the government,” he said.

Fr Wanyonyi said he could only pray and bless the couple and tell them to wait until next month for the marriage certificate to be issued.

So far, about 1,000 church leaders have obtained the new marriage certificates — less than a month to the November 1 deadline.