Kenyan President signs polygamy into law.

Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta has signed
into law a controversial marriage bill legalising
polygamy.
It brings civil law, where a man was only
allowed one wife, into line with customary law,
where some cultures allow multiple partners.
Controversy surrounded an amendment to the bill,
supported by many male MPs, allowing men to
take more wives without consulting existing
spouses.
Traditionally, first wives are supposed to give
prior approval.
‘Demeaning’
Last month, female MPs walked out of
parliament in disgust after their male counterparts
voted through the amendment.
They argued that a decision to take on another
wife would affect the whole family, including the
financial position of other spouses.
The bill was also opposed by Christian leaders
who urged the president not to sign it into law,
saying it undermined Christian principles of
marriage and family.
“The tone of that bill, if it becomes law, would
be demeaning to women since it does not respect
the principle of equality of spouses in the
institution of marriage,” Archbishop Timothy
Ndambuki, from the National Council of Churches
of Kenya (NCCK), was quoted by Kenya’s
Standard newspaper as saying.
The marriage legislation has been under discussion
for several years and some initial proposals were
scrapped at committee stages.
It has abolished the practice of unofficial
traditional marriages which were never registered
and could be ended without any legal divorce
proceedings.
But plans to ban the payment of bride prices
were dropped – although a person must be 18
to marry and this now applies to all cultures.
Inheritance chaos?
MPs did reject the committee amendment which
said a woman should only be entitled to 30% of
matrimonial property after death or divorce.
The law now allows for equal property and
inheritance rights – previously a woman had to
prove her contribution to the couple’s wealth.
However, the BBC’s Frenny Jowi in the capital,
Nairobi, says this aspect of the legislation could
create chaos in polygamous marriages.
The law stipulates that a wife is entitled to an
equal share of whatever the couple acquired
during their marriage but in the case of multiple
partners it is going to be difficult to determine
what each spouse is entitled to if one of them
divorces or their husband dies, she says.
There had also been a proposal to recognise co-
habiting couples, known in Kenya as “come-we-
stay” relationships, after six months, but this too
was dropped.