Leaders say polygamy could save a generation

Kiambu Woman Representative Gathoni wa Muchomba. She supports polygamy. FILE PHOTO

What you need to know:

  • Wa Muchomba said polygamy will offer solution to alcoholism and street families.
  • Rev Vincent Mulwa of Christ Pilgrim Restoration Centre said men can marry more than one wife.

When Kiambu Woman Representative Gathoni wa Muchomba asked able men from the Kikuyu community to consider marrying many wives, and to also put a brake on family planning, she may have just said what many people are afraid of saying.

The renowned radio journalist said polygamy will offer solution to alcoholism and street families, saying the upbringing of children in the absence of their fathers has was the major cause.

“We give birth to these children, and we do not want to own up to them… for me I am saying, if you are a man from the Kikuyu community, and you can sustain five wives, have them and if you are a man and you are in a position to bring up (many children), do it,” she said, adding that the forefathers did it and raised the children well.

Ms Wa Muchomba, a wife and a mother, said it was hypocritical and pretentious to keep quite on the subject, which has since drawn mixed reactions, saying polygamy is not a crime but culture.

SINGLE PARENTS
Last year, Mr Joseph Kaguthi, the chairman of Nyumba Kumi initiative, found himself in a similar situation when he kicked off a campaign to encourage men to be allowed to practice polygamy in a bid to address the high rate of single parenthood and dwindling of the population.

But the former provincial administrator said he was forced to abandon it after he was bashed by women and clerics, whom he said were uncomfortable with the topic.

He however still believes that able men should practice polygamy, saying it will offer solutions to bad parenthood and the declining of the community’s population, a thing he said was only affecting the community.

Other communities, he said have been proudly practicing it, adding that if the Kikuyu community were to revisit it, it would solve many problem that are bedevilling it, and which he said if not tackled, will get to an irreversible stage.  

HUSBANDS
Mr Kaguthi said about 44 per cent of households in central Kenya are headed by single mothers.

He said they are afraid of disclosing the identity of the fathers out of the fear of being condemned by the community, adding the women have been desperately looking for husbands.

“If we have 44 per cent of families being headed by mothers and we say there is no problem, what is it?

"When we have our women flocking seminars convinced by foreign pastors of no known quantity so that they can be prayed for to get husbands, and we say there is no problem, what is a problem?” Mr Kaguthi asked.

CHRISTIANS

He said there are many women who are willing to be co-wives but since polygamy has been demonised, they are afraid of doing it because they are afraid of being branded husband snatchers.

“Polygamy is not, by and large, a national issue, but a problem of the Agikuyu, who have been influenced by the colonial spiritual values and practices.

"We need a little aspect of decolonisation so that people can embrace it. Even in the Bible, we read of polygamy but as a community we want to pretend.

"Only an irresponsible man, who would go to get another wife, without having taking into account on how he will manage them,” Mr Kaguthi said, adding that recently clerics have been streaming to his office asking his to revive the debate.

He added: “I am extremely happy that the political wing, and more so women, have backed the idea, and all people should embrace it because polygamy was a way of culture.”

Rev Vincent Mulwa of Christ Pilgrim Restoration Centre, in a recent interview, said men can marry more than one wife.

“As far as the Bible is concerned, the number of wives or concubines that one has does not matter and is not a standard of holiness,” he says.

LAW
He adds: “I have come out to tell Christians that we must preach the true gospel and allow our men in the church to marry as many wives as they want.

"Polygamy is not about men needing many wives but it’s about women needing husbands.”

In 2014, the National Assembly amended the Marriage Act allowing men to marry many women.

“Marriage is the voluntary union of a man and a woman, whether in a monogamous or polygamous union,” read a presidential statement made after it was signed.

According to Mr Kaguthi, polygamy is not a crime but colonialists demonised the practice.

“This saw the community forget its culture, even basic things like clan and age sets, and with the nominalism, the situation led to the penetration of alcoholism, and the situation we are in is nagging.

"And if remedial measures are not taken, we will reach a level of being classified under United Nations, a threatened and endangered communities and cultures and languages,” Mr Kaguthi said.  

MARRIAGE
With the fading of culture, which killed the counselling of children and preparing them to marriage and parenthood, Mr Kaguthi said most of the young people in the community are not getting married.

“While in a workshop in Embu that has brought different people, I asked young women why they aren’t giving birth, and they told me that they want, but do not know who to sire children with.

"I also asked the young men why they aren’t getting married and they said the women are having terrible and crazy demands,” Mr Kaguthi said.