Nairobi, Kenya: A landmark case before the High Court could have far reaching implications
on how persons of transgender are treated.
It involves a woman, born 29 years ago as Andrew Mbugua Ithibu,
but who chose to change her gender. Unable to win Government recognition
of her new status as a woman, Audrey Mbugua Ithibu has now taken the battle to
court.
She accuses the national examinations body of preventing her from
being employed by refusing to change her academic certificates to reflect her
current gender status.
Audrey’s case seeking orders to compel the
Kenya
National Examination Council (Knec) to change her names in the examination
certificate is unprecedented in Kenyan courts.
Audrey says she was born male and diagnosed with Gender Identity
Disorder seven years after completing High School and scoring a grade of
A-minus.
Born in January 1984, she studied at Kiambu High School where she
sat her secondary school national examination under the name Andrew Mbugua
Ithibu. After completing High School in 2001, Andrew decided she wanted to be a
female and chose the name Audrey.
“I was born male 29 years ago and I started my medical transition
to be of the female sex a couple of years ago to replace Andrew, “she says in
an article.
Deed poll
She changed her first name legally from Andrew to Audrey last year
through a deed poll and gazette notice. She was treated at Mathare mental
hospital and subsequently issued with a psychiatrist medical report stating
that she had been diagnosed with Gender Identity Disorders/Transsexualism in
2008.
Currently, a project officer at a transgender lobby, Audrey says she has attempted
to undergo surgery to become a woman but the medical authorities have
complicated matters for her.
Her efforts to seek help from the Commission on Administrative
Justice (CAJ), requesting the Government agency to intervene for her to access
her gender reassignment surgery
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By PAMELA CHEPKEMEI
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