Polygamy in Kenya-Women Celebrate as Government Allows Polygamy

Last year, Kenyan women flooded in the streets to celebrate the legalization of polygamy.
According to the powerful women’s rights group, they were protesting because of shortage of men in the country to impregnate them. Kenya is a nation where the number of women is about five times that of men.

In Kenya and in some African countries, polygamy is known as a common practice among many cultures.

New Kenya Marriage Law

With this new law in place, one man can get married to as many wives as possible, saving women the stress of remaining single.

Kenyan women in the country have received this message of legalizing polygamy with mixed feelings, the married ones are not happy, on the other side the single ladies singing praises to the president for approving it.

Single Ladies Singing Praises

“We are happy with the law because finally all marriages are being treated equally,” said Christine Ochieng, executive director of the nation’s Federation of Women Lawyers.

“All marriages will be issued with marriage certificates, including customary marriages. Before this, customary marriages were treated as inferior with no marriage certificates. This opened up suffering for the women because they could not legally prove they were married to a particular man.” Shed added

First Wives Disapprove President Uhuru Kenyatta’s New Polygamy Law

Traditionally, the men needed a prior approval from their first wives before the man can pick another woman as a wife.

First wives said, “What we are not happy about is that now a man can marry another wife or wives without the consent of the first wife,” she said. “That section of the law is potentially open to abuse because a man can secretly marry other wives because he doesn’t need his wife’s consent to marry.”

But Jane Kimani, a Nairobi resident, said the bill is archaic and has no place in modern society.
“Polygamous marriages should not even be an issue today,” she said. “Kenya is moving backward instead of changing with the times.”

By: frencheducationgh.com