Polygamy bill allows Kenyan men many wives Nairobi, Kenya - Kenyan men have practiced polygamy, or plural marriage, as far back as they can remember. In fact, the country has produced Ancentus Akuku Ogwela, who married 130 wives, and, when he died at 92, left behind 210 children. But a new marriage bill that gives men the liberty to marry as many wives as they want - and without any consultations with their partners - is, according to many, going too far. Those days of marrying dozens of wives are gone, said Tom Akuku Ogwela, the polygamists son, and a polygamist himself. Socially and economically, its difficult to have more than three-to-four wives. Ogwela, a doctor who runs a small clinic in a village near Lake Victoria, said his father wouldnt have married hundreds of wives if there were restrictions to stop him, noting that, in those days what was needed was a lot of food, which my father had a plenty of as a farmer, and less cash, unlike right now. The bill, passed by parliament last month but still unsigned by the president, has split Kenyans into two main camps: Those who vehemently support it for religious or cultural reasons, and others who say it will create unnecessary divisions and hostilities in families in a country where many people still live in poverty. Some even say that unchecked polygamous marriages have the potential to dramatically increase the population of the country. The head of the Catholic Church in Kenya, John Cardinal Njue, called the passage of the bill a painful move by a male-dominated parliament, and urged President Uhuru Kenyatta to reject it. Shameful and retrogressive The local media has also attacked the bill, with the countrys largest newspaper, The Daily Nation, calling it shameful and a retrogressive move that is simply taking us back into the dark ages, at a time when we should be strengthening family values. Some Kenyans have derisively suggested that lawmakers consider polyandry too, a practice that allows women to take multiple husbands. Others have speculated that lawmakers may also in the future legalize wife-beating. What exactly is the value of taking up extra wives without regard to the feelings of the first spouse? asked The Standard, the second largest paper in the country in an editorial last month. What would the male MPs have to say if their own wives suggested a situation where they would also wish to bring in an extra husband or two? Despite this clamor for rejecting the bill, though, there are no clear signs that President Kenyatta - who has so far kept quiet on the issue - will reject it. In the recent past, he signed a controversial media bill into law despite protests from the public and media.
Posted on: Fri, 04 Apr 2014 21:57:50 +0000
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