An April 7 court ruling by Justice Joel Ngugi of the Nakuru law courts said fathers can be granted custody of young children.
The ruling upends decades of Kenyan law. Section 8 of the Children's Act of 2001 says a child under the age of 10 is to be given to the mother unless there is good reason to do otherwise.
Justice Ngugi said that law is not necessarily in the best interest of children. In his ruling, he awarded custody to a man who had been caring for his child for six years while the mother lived abroad.