Africa’s vexatious custom of polygamy

THE suspicion of a third wife was planted in Irene Atenyo’s mind when her husband could not account for his most recent pay.

When she confronted him, he beat her “like an animal” and briefly kicked her out, she said. She winced as she recalled his confession days later of being involved with a student.

“My fear is that I am home, settled, being faithful to an unfaithful man, but who knows what kind of disease he will carry home for me?” the 27-year-old fruit vendor said from Uganda’s capital.

She is not alone. Millions of women across sub-Saharan Africa are still living in the complex relationships of polygamy, a centuries-old practice once the norm among African men seeking large families to cultivate the land.

According to the UN, which opposes polygamy, the practice was legal or generally accepted in 33 countries, 25 of them in Africa, as of 2009.

Campaigners urge governments to enact laws that protect the dignity of women and reject any religious argument for polygamy, saying the practice shackles women and often worsens the risk of disease and poverty. There hasn’t been much success. A panel of judges last month rejected a petition to have polygamy declared unconstitutional in Uganda, where it is permissible for Muslims and those in customary marriages sealed with the traditional payment of a bride price but not for those seeking Christian or civil unions.

Neighbouring Kenya legalised polygamous unions for men in 2014 with overwhelming support from male lawmakers as the majority leader argued that the biblical David and Solomon “never consulted anybody” when choosing multiple partners.

In South Africa, where former president Jacob Zuma has four wives, polygamy has long been legal under customary arrangements.

And Tanzanian President John Magufuli actively encourages polygamy, citing the 10 million more women than men in his country.

Polygamy is still rampant in many countries in the Horn of Africa and East Africa even as the practice loses popularity in Muslim-majority communities of North Africa, said Hala al-Karib, a Sudanese activist who runs the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa, a network of civil society groups.

“Polygamy is contributing to massive chaos,” she said. “It really victimises children and their mothers.” And it can fuel conflict: in war-ravaged South Sudan, where polygamy is commonly practiced, the raiding of cattle to pay bride prices can inflame ethnic tensions.