S. 1 14( 1) The court shall have power, when granting or subsequent to the grant of a decree of separation or divorce, to order the division between the parties of any assets acquired by them during the marriage by their joint efforts or to order the sale of any such asset and the division between the parties of the proceeds of the sale.
In excercising the power conferred by subsection (I ), the court shall have regard -
to the custom of the community to which the parties belong;
to the extent of the contributions made by each party in money, property or work towards the acquiring of the assets;
to any debts owing by either party which were contracted for their joint benefit; and
to the needs of the infant children, if any of the marriage,
and subject to those considerations, shall incline towards equality of division .
For the purposes of this section, references to assets aquired during a marriage include assets owned before the marriage by one party which have been substantially improved during the marriage by the other party or by their joint efforts.
Hapa inasema hata mali ambazo zilipatikana kabla ya ndoa na zikaboreshwa wakati wa ndoa zinahesabiwa kama matrimonial property.
Kuhusu madai kuwa tabia mbaya ya mke inamfanya asiwe na haki ya kupata mgao soma maoni ya Rashid Kawawa akiwa Bungeni na Jaji Samatta.
Kawawa, Leader of the Government business in the House, replied that »the right of a spouse to a share of assets must be clearly understood because it does not depend upon which party caused the breakdown of the marriage. What is being given to the spouse is an entitlement based on sweat and not on good behaviour« (1 971: 380) (Trans. BAR.). Samatta J., expressed a similar view in the case of Swiga Kilima v. Hamisi Mwakafila4 where he stated that there were no provisions in the Law of Marriage Act which state that a spouse who is responsible for the breakdown of the marriage loses his or her share of the assets which the spouses acquired through their joint efforts. Samatta J., stressed that »whether the provisions of section 1 14 are read by the use of a magnifying glass or a microscope, it is patently clear that a spouse cannot lose his or her share of matrimonial assets because he or she is the one who caused the burial of the marriage«.
Amandla...