The colonial punishment of this crime against women introduced new laws
that impacted the daily behaviors of people. And as seen in the previous chapter,
it represented a contested space. The importance of a controlled wife was
obviously held in high regard in the Kenyan society. As noted in the previous
chapter on criminalization, African law under colonialism was shaped over time
through policies, cases, and contestations.20 Men fought for their control over
women but in many instances this was difficult; while women enjoyed more legal
protection.
Although we will never completely know Mukie’s side of this story, we do
know that she was violently murdered by her husband for being disobedient.
This fact alone offers insight into the experiences of many women; they were
constantly controlled. With this case we can begin to understand the impact of
colonial policies and laws that intervened in domestic spaces between men and
women. Each of these struggles created new social boundaries in Kenya.
Civil legislation such as the marriage, divorce, and widow laws occupied
the attention of the colonial administration. An Ordinance to Regulate the
Marriages of Natives, provision 39.1, stated that widowed women:
“...shall not be bound to cohabit with the brother or any other relative of her
deceased husband or any other person or be at the disposal of such brother
or other relative or other person, but she shall have the same right to support
herself and her children of such marriage ...as she would have had if she had
not been married as aforesaid.”21
Offenses Against the Person, p. 98 and Quarterly Report from the District Commissioner’s Office on
February 2, 1910, KNA Kutui District, p. 6-7.
20 See for example, Mann, Kristin and Richard Roberts, Law in Colonial Africa
21 An Ordinance to Regulate the Marriages of Natives, Registration and Dissolution of Marriages, District
Commissioner’s Office Report, March 1958. KNA PC/Grassa/14/8 p. 16.
158
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