Let us do away with tradition that harms community

While proponents of wife inheritance say it continues family lineage, it is taking a toll In Homa Bay, Kisumu and Siaya counties, where it is  an impediment to HIV/Aids prevention, control and management. PHOTO| FILE| NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • In a report by Human Rights Watch in 2006, researchers observed that even when widows publicly declared their HIV-positive status, they were still inherited.
  • To stem the practice, community elders are now preaching change in churches and at funerals, which are the inheritors’ hunting grounds.
  • Meanwhile, writing in The Washington Post in 1997, Stephen Buckley, former dean at the Poynter Institute of Media studies in Florida, US, decried the deceptive nature of the practice, which always works to man’s advantage.

At just 28 years of age, Mary Anyango Otieno has been inherited three times. And she says she will not turn down a fourth suitor should her current husband die. In fact, so dearly does she hold the tradition that she considers any widow who refuses to be inherited an outcast. 

She was first inherited after her husband died in the early ’90s, but the man died a year later due to HIV/Aids complications. She has been inherited twice thereafter, and that after making it known that she was HIV-positive

Still, Ms Otieno, who lives in Oboke Village in Migori County, considers being inherited the natural thing to do since her father is what one might consider a “professional” inheritor. While officially he had two wives, he inherited more than five widows, she reveals.

Ms Otieno is her current husband’s second wife. He has inherited several widows after her, but she says she cannot have protected sex with him in spite of the high risk of getting re-infected with HIV.

“I cannot use protection. I want to actualise my husband’s wish of having 10 children since he died when he was of a child-bearing age.”  He died at 33.

 “If I get a baby boy, I will name him after my late husband. It will be like a reincarnation of him,” says Ms Otieno, who is pregnant with her seventh child.

According to Luo tradition, children sired by an inheritor are considered those of the dead man and not the inheritor’s.

So Ms Otieno’s stance is not surprising, given the prevalence of the practice in her village. In fact, some men in the village have formed a widow inheritance group of sorts.  Whenever a woman loses her husband, they camp at the home and declare their interest.

TAKING A MAJOR TOLL ON THE COMMUNITY

But although the people of Oboke Village still cherish widow inheritance, it is taking a major toll on the community. 

For instance, the number of widows in the area is unusually high. According to some village elders, three out of every women you come across are widows, and  who have been inherited.

They said that the number of men who have died of HIV-related complications  in the village is worryingly high, thanks to their refusal to stop widow inheritance. As a result, they leave behind young widows, which only perpetuates the practice and the spread of the killer disease.

They added that the widows were usually not in a position to negotiate whether or not to use protection.

Besides, the rate of new of HIV/Aids, infections has remained stubbornly high, despite efforts by the government and private sector to curb the menace.

The situation has prompted governors in the areas where the tradition is widespread, namely Homa Bay, Siaya, and Kisumu, to begin a campaign to kick out “professional” inheritors from their areas to curb the spread of HIV-Aids.

Governor Cornel Rasanga (Siaya), Jack Ranguma (Kisumu) and Cyprian Awiti (Homa Bay), say widow inheritance has taken a dangerous dimension, adding that  they want notorious culprits to be ejected from their counties to serve as an example to others.

According to statistics from National Aids Control Council for 2015, Homa Bay, Siaya and Kisumu counties are among those with high HIV prevalence rates of between 10 and 28 per cent.

Homa Bay had the highest infection rate of 25.7 per cent, while Siaya and Kisumu had infection rates of 23.7 and 19.3 per cent respectively.

“Widow inheritance is one of the main factors contributing to the high HIV prevalence in western Kenya,” Mr Rasanga told DN2.

WE DO NOT WANT WIFE INHERITORS HERE

 “We do not want them [wife inheritors] here. The practice is no longer culture-oriented but a business. In the past, if a woman was to be inherited, elders would meet and decide on who to inherit her. That is not  happening today,” he noted.

The governors said involving the Luo Council of Elders was key in reducing the spread of HIV in the region.

“If one really must inherit a woman, then the two of them should know their status and sit with elders and discuss it,” suggested Mr Ranguma. “They [wife inheritors] come to destroy and not to help. There are some traditions that are deeply rooted in our community but if they are destroying us, why should we stick to them?” asks Mr Ranguma.

Traditionally, wife inheritance is seen as a way of continuing a family’s lineage, especially if the widow is of child-bearing age. However, the practice has become a big impediment to HIV and Aids control, prevention and management.

Indeed, in 1993, the government noted that widow inheritance was a key contributor to the high rate of HIV/Aids spread in Western Kenya.

In a study titled Widow Inheritance and HIV Prevalence in Bondo District, researcher Kawango Agot said the Luo, Luhya, Teso and Miji Kenda in Kenya had perfected wife inheritance, leading to increased cases of HIV/Aids, compared with other African countries.

“Despite the apparent risk of HIV infection associated with the practice, some people are reluctant to stop it,” she said.

In a report by Human Rights Watch in 2006, researchers observed that even when widows publicly declared their HIV-positive status, they were still inherited.

PREACHING CHANGE

To stem the practice, community elders are now preaching change in churches and at funerals, which are the inheritors’ hunting grounds

Meanwhile, writing in The Washington Post in 1997, Stephen Buckley, former dean at the Poynter Institute of Media studies in Florida, US, decried the deceptive nature of the practice, which always works to man’s advantage.

“Pervasive as it has been... Aids did not kill the tradition of widow inheritance,” Buckley wrote: “Men, often seeking to cheat widows out of land, have continued to inherit them. Widows, shackled by poverty, have continued to rely on inheritors to take care of them.”

Regarding the spread of HIV-Aids through the practice Buckley wrote: “An inheritor has his own family, he infects his first wife and the widows he has inherited. Then he dies and men inherit the women he

leaves behind. Those men die and then their widows are inherited, hence the increasing number of new HIV infections.”

While mass education campaigns have been rolled out to help reduce the number of new infections, there is little to show for it.

Mr Ojanga Kawaka 64, an elder in Oboke Village, says widow inheritance is one of the traditional practices that have survived test the of time, despite the drastic change s in society, which have revolutionised  the way people relate within the  community.

“This is one of the difficult battles to win. We have tried discouraging it but few seem to understand its effects in this era of HIV/Aids. It seems some people are genetically wired to it,” says Mr Kawaka.

While some men or women have heeded the call, others are deeply entrenched in it, he says, adding that, although  they are working with organisations like Men Against Aids to get rid of the old-age custom, it remains an uphill task.

Mr Madoh Onyango, Nyanza coordinator for Man Against Aids, says widow inheritance is rampant in western Kenya, and blamed the continuation of the practice on poverty.  He said if widows could find some income-generating activities, the practice would end naturally. He, however, said that widows should go for HIV testing with the inheritor before formalising their union.

“Most widows do not know  the grave effects of the practice. They consider it normal and only a rigorous educative programme will save the situation,” he says.