Infidelity in relationships has almost become the currency of trade in most relationships and marriages in Kenya – and across the world.
Indeed, cheating, which many individuals often hide from those they love, has been blamed for the rising national divorce rate in Kenya.
A trip to the second floor of Kenya’s Commercial court’s civil registry in Nairobi tells just half the story. It’s busy with stern-famed men and women trooping in and out of the offices. The secretaries are often very busy filing acres of documents.
In December 2020, the register closed on December 31, having registered some 1,108 people all of whom filed petitions to dissolve their marriages.
Just two years earlier, in December 2017, the number stood at 909 people, which means the numbers are increasing.
The numbers do not take into account divorce arising from unofficial unions – in a good month.
According to a report in Business Daily, in February 2021 alone, 149 cases seeking marriage dissolution were filed.
The changes in divorce law that came into force in 2019 in Kenya, and which abolished the mandatory minimum period of family life has caused a significant increase in the number of marriage dissolution and legal separations.
This said, interestingly, one thing that has often been blamed for rampart cheating which has led to dissolution of most marriages in Kenya is the career of your partner.
There is a general belief that there are careers with very high cases of cheating and divorces, which apparently has been a point of consideration when choosing a partner.
Mwanahabari.co.ke spoke to a number of Kenyans who shared their views on this controversial subject.
Musicians/actors, police and journalists take the cake
Some of the jobs which many mentioned as likely to experience high divorce rates included: bartenders, salon workers (for both men and women), truck drivers (and drivers of Public Service Vehicles), nurses, journalists, teachers, gaming/betting operators, customer care operators, salespeople, tour operators, masons, flight attendants, massage therapists, dispatchers, police officers
“I was married to a policeman – but I left because he had this tendency of using women and dumping them. I was his sixth wife,” Vivian told Mwanahabari.co.ke
As for Anthony Njenga, a businessman in Nairobi, drivers take the cake.
“They are always on the road… away from their wives or husbands for that matter. That is why you will find them divorcing a lot because of their cheating brought about by the nature of the job,” Njenga said.
Careers likely to have low divorce rates
Others who spoke to Mwanahabari listed scientists, farmers, mortuary attendants, pharmacists, dentists, software developers, religious studies/theology, military, architecture and engineers as some of the careers they think one is likely to experience very few cases of divorce.