Why should any women group find this law great so to applaud it? For the men who will be the real beneficiaries, I am sure they are excitedly laughing but what do women stand to gain from this?
Even though polygamy has been part of the African culture for many years, for a law to be passed in parliament to grant men the legal permission to do so in 21st century is just not right…
What about passing a law to ensure that every father takes care of his child to a higher education level—making it compulsory?
The argument which the women’s group is making, that, the law makes it possible to treat all marriages equal may sound great on face of it—but deep down, this should not be supported. Why can’t marriage stand as a union between one man and a woman—and that one man must treat this woman with care and love?
According to CNN;
A new law that went into effect in Kenya this week makes it legal for a man to marry as many women as he wants. And a leading women’s group is applauding it.
President Uhuru Kenyatta signed the polygamy measure into law Tuesday, formally recognizing what has long been a cultural practice in the nation.
Parliament passed the bill in March despite protests from female lawmakers who angrily stormed out of the late-night session at the time.
The bill initially allowed the first wife the right to veto the husband’s choice of additional spouses. Male members of parliament successfully pushed to get that clause dropped.
“Marriage is the voluntary union of a man and a woman whether in a monogamous or polygamous union,” Kenyatta said in a statement. “The Marriage Act 2014 defines various types of marriages including monogamous, polygamous, customary, Christian, Islamic and Hindu marriages.”
No limit on number of wives
The law legalizes polygamous unions, but does not provide an official limit on the number of wives a man can have.
The Federation of Women Lawyers, a powerful women’s rights group, applauded aspects of the bill and criticized others.
Polygamy already is a common fixture among many cultures in Kenya and in some other African countries.
The bill, the group said, is long overdue because polygamous unions were previously not regarded as equal to regular marriages.
“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. ”
First wife has no say
However, she said, the first wife should have a say in picking her husband’s co-wives.
“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.”
Ieven though polygamy is wrong, it is fair game since gay marriage is being legalized all over the world and I know the writer will have no problem if this was gay marriage but then since it is polygamy you criticize it
like seriously??
they shd be banished
boomboclaat
fire burn homo sexual
how on earth would they do that