Kenyan parliament passes polygamy law. Kenyas parliament has passed a bill allowing men to marry as many women as they want, prompting a furious backlash from female politicians. The bill, which amended existing marriage legislation, was passed late on Thursday to formalize customary law about marrying more than one person. The proposed bill had initially given a wife the right to veto the husbands choice, but male members of parliament overcame party divisions to push through a text that dropped this clause, the PALM news agency reported. When you marry an African woman, she must know the second one is on the way, and a third wife... this is Africa, MP Junet Mohammed told the house, according to Nairobis Capital FM. As in many parts of Africa, polygamy is common among traditional communities in Kenya, as well as among the countrys Muslim community, which accounts for up to a fifth of the population. Any time a man comes home with a woman, that would be assumed to be a second or third wife, said Samuel Chepkonga, chairman of the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee, the Daily Nation newspaper reported. Under customary law, women or wives you have married do not need to be told when youre coming home with a second or third wife. Any lady you bring home is your wife, he added. Meanwhile female MPs stormed out of the late-night session in fury after a heated debate. We know that men are afraid of womens tongues more than anything else, Soipan Tuya told fellow MPs, according to Capital FM. But at the end of the day, if you are the man of the house, and you choose to bring on another party - and they may be two or three - I think it behoves you to be man enough to agree that your wife and family should know, she added. A clause in which a partner who had promised marriage but then backed out of the wedding could face financial damages was also dropped, as male MPs argued it could have been used to extort cash. They also argued that marriage should be based on procreation, and not have a financial cost placed upon it. Women are not allowed to marry more than one man in Kenya. The bill must now pass before the president to be signed before becoming law. *Pan African Liberation Movement [PALM] salutes the kenyan government and it people for taking a giant step in retrieving Africas almost lost traditional marriage institution that was criminalized, painted as evil and barbaric by the Europeans and christianity especially, which led to the collapse of our marital values that has created single parenting, prostitution and unguided children amongst our people/Africans globally. We hope other African countries emulates from Kenya and enact such law for we are Africans not Europeans, for Europeans lives as Europeans not like Africans. *one who spit above head spit upon self- African proverb from the Igbo people.
Posted on: Sat, 29 Mar 2014 15:26:28 +0000
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