By Silas N
There is a resurgence of the polygamy debate in Kenya. Hardly a day goes before you see, the likes of Gordon Opii pontificating about the beauty and value of polygamy.
What many folks have not noticed is that the debate is curiously back when the wealth gap is widening and even fewer men control resources in the country.
Since Jubilee took over, the economy has badly deteriorated and it seems there is nothing they can’t do to make things worse.
I was richer as a student under Kibaki, and held so much money as a student than I have had as an adult, in the last 6 years. And I am sure there are men out here who are more broke than they were a few years back.
Most of my peers, not even 35, have already been sacked or forced into early retirement. Chances of owning a decent home, driving a good car are somewhere between impossible and never.
The upshot here is that men are knocking up girls and disappearing. Not because they are irresponsible, but they can’t even afford a shoe.
Only one in ten graduates seems to have landed a better job in my own estimation. Most of us wing it in.
Now back to polygamy. Contrary to Christianity’s teaching and all the female-empowerment stuff, and women swearing they will never settle for a polygamous marriage, trust you me, 9 out of 10 women would readily marry a man and settle to be second wives, if they had to.
If you read Bikozulu’s blog today, you will notice that women are highly practical when it comes to choosing a mate.
There is nothing absolutely wrong in sharing a man. Whether you believe in the bible or not, every woman, deep down, ingrained in their DNA is a desire to be married, or at least to have a man around. That is why even some of the drunkards and men we deem useless are married and some women elect to live with them to the end.
Nothing to be ashamed of.
In a more equal society, where each man has means, and women have means, there is no such a thing as polygamy.
Lastly, The Economist, did some research a while back and said that polygamous societies tend to be more violent. Because older, richer men with cows confiscate all the women, leaving men with no choice than to raid neighboring communities fo cattle, so that they too can get some.
Bottom line, no one should be stripped the right to get some. You strip men, they become violent. When women have limited choices, sharing a man, becomes a pragmatic choice, even though Laureen Wez would bake me in the sun for this patriarchal nonsense I am spewing. But it is the way it is.
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