AMBANI: Why The mad rush to get married during pandemic?

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought out the best and worst in us. For me, the pros outweigh the cons.

Somehow, the universe conspired to stop the whole of humanity from rushing to insanity due to our daily lives.

But the one thing that never crossed my mind that the pandemic would do is cause a mad rush for couples to get married.

Men no longer have jittery feet to take the big step and women don’t have to resort to subtle manipulations to make the man put a ring on it.

MARRIAGE SERVICES SUSPENDED

Suddenly, everyone wants to make their relationships official, so much so that the Attorneys General office at Sheria House suspended all marriage services till further notice, due to being overwhelmed by the huge numbers.

In a statement, Registrar-General Mary Njuya stated that the services will be halted until further notice.

This, she says, is to allow the department develop a strategy in handling the high number of clients.

Before the massive blow from Sheria House to couples, there were already signs of aggressiveness exhibited by couples who wanted to formalise their union albeit the fact that their plans were unceremoniously put on hold due to Covid-19.

The government in its efforts to fight the spread of coronavirus banned all gatherings and issued restriction of movement into and out of some counties.

This meant that loved one could no longer join marriage celebrations for their sons and daughters in the city. Changing the African culture where such occasions are usually celebrated as a community.

Not willing to allow years of preparation for their big day be postponed some couples decided to go ahead and tie the knot without the presence of their relatives and only have a few witnesses and the pastor.

Makes the mind wonder, with this sudden “need” to get married that Nairobians are having, what do these couples know that we other folks don’t?

Is it that due to the physical and social distancing rule, couples dating have realised that they cannot maintain the distancing required by the government.

And I am not against people making their relationships official, as long as it is done under the correct conditions and not under pressure, coercion or impulse.

That is why I hope those rushing to tie the knot are not doing it just due to the uncertainty of the current situation. I know the world has been turned upside down due to the pandemic. But this should not make us lose hope.

I was raised to believe that marriage is a lifelong commitment that should not be rushed into.

We all sometimes can be impulsive people. We are emotionally strained with how things are at the moment and not being sure of the future.

But you see even before Covid-19 no one knew what the future would be like.

When all those people from the village fill up a whole bus to come to the city and celebrate a couple’s wedding, it is not because they had nothing else to do that particular day.

But because they all want to be part of the achievement of the man and the woman. The important step they are taking in their lives. And transition of life. They add up to the air of love that is already present with the couple.

My point is Covid-19 is just a setback that we will one day defeat, but in the meantime we can all use this as a learning curve.

This is an opportunity for those in a relationship to see how they relate to each other during challenging times, and how they work out their issues.

The way I see it, the decision made by Sheria House to halt all marriage services is a blessing in disguise.