Kenya Legalizes Polygamy; Number of Wives has No Limit

Kenyan men can now legally have more than one missus, according to a new law enacted by the Kenyan government this week. And a woman's group is actually pleased with this decision.

"President Uhuru Kenyatta signed the polygamy measure into law Tuesday, formally recognizing what has long been a cultural practice in the nation," CNN reported. "Parliament passed the bill in March despite protests from female lawmakers who angrily stormed out of the late-night session at the time."

At first, the bill "allowed the first wife the right to veto the husband's choice of additional spouses." However, the male members of the parliament managed to get that aspect dropped from the bill.

In a statement, Kenyatta said "The Marriage Act 2014 defines various types of marriages including monogamous, polygamous, customary, Christian, Islamic and Hindu marriages."

He also said that marriage is a voluntary union that may be monogamous or polygamous.

There is no limit set on how many wives a man can take for himself.

Meanwhile, an influential women's rights group, the Federation of Women Lawyers, cheered some parts of the bill and slammed others.

"We are happy with the law because finally all marriages are being treated equally," commented Christine Ochieng, FWL's executive director. "All marriages will be issued with marriage certificates, including customary marriages. Before this, customary marriages were treated as inferior with no marriage certificates. This opened up suffering for the women because they could not legally prove they were married to a particular man. "

Previously, polygamous unions were not considered equal to "regular" unions.

Ochieng, however, stated that the first wife should be given the right to pick the other wives.

"What we are not happy about is that now a man can marry another wife or wives without the consent of the first wife. That section of the law is potentially open to abuse because a man can secretly marry other wives because he doesn't need his wife's consent to marry," she explained.

Do you think Kenya is being progressive with this new law? Comment and let us know!