Polygamy Creates Poverty & Children Without Fathers

Wyckliffe Obwoge Ogenche my husband behind my back took on a second wife, just a few short months after we married at the end of 2019. She was ten years his junior and had given birth to a child he had previously abandoned. In the village near where they're both from, they had their wedding.

The young girl had been playing on my WhatsApp and Facebook messenger for a month prior. When I confronted her about why she was contacting me she said nothing. only telling me she was friends with Wyckliffe. It was almost a year before I found out that he had taken a second wife. Even though during our wedding in Nairobi, Kenya the judge (who performed the ceremony) said it would be illegal for either of us to marry while entered into this marriage.

Then in early 2020 Uhuru Kenyatta (The Kenyan President at that time) changed the law of the 2014 Marriage Act in Kenya. He made it legal for men to marry multiple wives without the consent (or knowledge) of the first wife. Making women second class citizens, as many men just walk away and abandon their wives and children.

Many African men leave wives that don't give them male children, One Kenyan mother of 3 girls was abandoned by her husband. She now lives in the slums of Nairobi, sharing a small flat with her sister and her children.

Exactly what my husband did, he walked away from his young second wife and their child. Leaving this poorly uneducated girl Ruth Vionna to raise their daughter on her own, Living in a village in Kisii County, Kenya his daughter was poorly taken care of. Ruth Vionna posted photos of the child in filthy clothing at times with scares on her face.

My husband then took on a 3rd wife, a woman that already knew he had 2 other wives and a child he abandoned. She had her own son without a father and was desperate to have a father for him.

Adults who grew up in polygamist families in Kenya usually are the biggest group of people speaking out against polygamy. They tell stories of how their childhood was with an absent father, several siblings and co-wives. The poverty has been outlined in several documents and statistics, especially in African countries.

Polygamist Kenyans and other Africans from polygamist countries have often went off to Western Countries and married women there for citizenship. Once they get they 'papers' as many call it, their citizenship they then bring their other wives and children. One Joel Kiage did this in Delaware, in the United States, he never mentioned he had 2 wives and 8 children and was also from Kisii County, Kenya.

The United States, the United Kingdom and other Western countries have done nothing to change their immigration practices. Or do insure that their citizens aren't scammed so that people from these polygamist countries aren't defrauding these countries.

Nearly 47 percent of Senegalese marriages are polygamous, and more than 46 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, as reported in a 2010 World Bank study. Being in a polygamous relationship makes economic sense for a young West African female. The Quran states that a man must not “take more wives than he can deal with justly,” meaning that accommodations must be made for each wife to have her own equally furnished and comfortable living space. Consequently, a husband who has the means to support multiple wives would certainly provide a level of financial support that many young, unmarried women would have difficulty obtaining otherwise.

There are also distinct social incentives. Since many West African communities are collectivist (as opposed to the Western “individualist” ideal), joining multiple families through marriage strengthens social fabric and creates a strong safety net throughout the community. Not only that, but as Professor Sow puts it, “For a Senegalese woman, being unmarried is not highly regarded. So they would rather share a husband than remain single.”

Source: The Borgen Magazine

“There are people who cannot afford to feed one wife but are ready to marry three wives and have more children than they can feed, talk less of paying for their school fees,” he said.

“The poverty level of the north is 80 percent, while in the south, the percentage is 20 percent, simply because of the culture of marrying many wives and producing many children who, at the end, are left on the streets to beg for what to eat.”

Source: The Cable

'Put up and shut up': polygamy breeds poverty for Kenyan women and children

Almost 1.5 million Kenyans - or 10 percent of the married population - are in a polygamous marriage, according to latest data from the Kenya Population and Housing Census.

But women’s rights groups say this a gross underestimate as most of these marriages are customary and not registered. Worse still, many women are unaware they are even sharing a husband as he may keep them in separate homes without informing them.“Polygamy is the biggest contributor to poverty as most men who get into it cannot afford it - and it is the women and children who suffer most,” said Teresa Omondi-Adeitan, executive director of the Federation of Women Lawyers in Kenya.

Source: Reuters

Thank you for reading 🙏🏽 Please consider buying a coffee for Lacey's House efforts in Gender Equality & Children's Rights as it tries to move international.

©️TB Henry 2022 All Rights Reserved