Christian leaders fear a new marriage law in Kenya allowing polygamy will tear families apart.
President Uhuru Kenyatta signed the polygamy measure into law on April 29, formally recognising what has long been a cultural practice in the nation.
The new law allows a man to take a new wife without informing his existing wife.
An initial version of the law allowed a first wife to veto her husband’s choice of additional spouses.
Male Kenyan members of parliament successfully pushed in a late night session to get that clause dropped.
This led to a walk-out by female lawmakers.
Christian leaders said the law would dilute the principle of holy matrimony.
They had united to urge Kenyatta to reject the law.
Under the new law there are five types of marriages in Kenya: Christian, Islamic, Hindu, monogamous and polygamous
Rev. David Gathanju, moderator of the Presbyterian Church of East Africa, said polygamy will “open the floodgates for all sorts of separations and divorces”.
“That will surely hurt the family institution and the country at large will suffer,” he said.
Kenya is predominantly Christian, with Muslims about 11 per cent of the population.
Bishop Joseph Methu, leader of the Federation of Evangelical and Indigenous Christian Churches of Kenya, said the new law would cause problems and confusion.
“We now begin a journey to see how it can be amended. I don’t think it’s good for us,” he said.
Kenya’s Federation of Women Lawyers is pleased the new law puts customary marriages on the same footing as legal marriages.
Previously, women in customary marriages could not prove they were married to a particular man, because they had no marriage certificates.
But the federation wants first wives to have a say in picking her husband’s other wives.
Otherwise, men will be able to marry other wives in secret.
The US State Department is “still reviewing” the new law.
An official said some provisions can be seen as steps towards greater equality for women, but others codify existing traditional practises that disempower some women”.
Muslim leaders in Kenya backed the new law, saying polygamy is found in the Bible and the Quran.
Sources
- Religion News Service
- CNN
- Daily Nation
- Image: BBC