Court orders teenager’s name changed from female to male
By Zipporah Ngwatu, September 29, 2025A Nairobi court has issued interim orders to the Attorney General through the Registrar of Persons to change the name of the teenager from a female to a male name to enable him to register for KPSEA exams.
High Court Judge Chacha Mwita on Monday, September 29, 2025, ordered the government to expedite the name change in the birth certificate of the minor to ensure he is not locked out of registration for the exams.
Also watch: 1,542 intersex persons were recorded in the last census.
Lawyer Matiko Mang’era and Erick Keli, representing the petitioners, told the court that the minor was assigned a female name at birth, but now the male attributes are dominant; thus, he wants the name change from a female to a male.
“The minor was assigned a female gender marker at birth, and now, as a teenager, the male attributes are dominant, and now wants the male name to register and sit for KPSEA exams,” the legal team told the court.
The court has directed the respondents (the Attorney General, the Registrar of Persons, the Cabinet Secretaries of the Ministry of Health, Education and Interior, the Speaker of the National Assembly of Kenya, and the Senate Speaker, among others) to file their responses in 14 days.
Intersex rights
Seven petitioners moved to the Nairobi High Court, Constitutional and Human Rights Division, seeking court’s intervention to have the rights of the intersex people protected.
In their petition, they argue that the intersex persons in Kenya continue to face daily and ongoing violations of their rights and freedoms, including the right to legal recognition, dignity, privacy and non-discrimination.
They cite that the intersex children and teenagers are routinely subjected to denial of emergency medical procedures for life-threatening conditions related to the intersex condition, causing the children’s and teenagers’ life-threatening medical complications.
The court papers also reveal that the intersex teenagers continue to be harassed, kicked out, restrained from joining, profiled and discriminated against in secondary schools, leading to discontinuation of learning.
They also aver that the intersex adults have also received continued harassment, arrest, assaults, and detention on grounds of “impersonation” due to contradictions between their physical appearances and identity documents bearing names and genders assigned at birth.
The petitioners want the court to intervene and direct the respondents (the Attorney General, the Registrar of Persons, the Cabinet Secretaries of the Ministry of Health, Education and Interior, the Speaker of the National Assembly of Kenya, and the Senate Speaker, among others) to take necessary remedial actions to protect and uphold the constitutional rights of intersex persons in Kenya.
The matter will be mentioned on November 11, 2025, for further directions.