BUNGA LA KENYA LAPITISHA SHERIA YA KUOA MKE ZAIDI YA MMOJA

Kenyan parliament passes polygamy law

Female politicians storm out after parliament passes law that allows men to to marry as many women as they want.

Kenya's parliament has passed a bill allowing men to marry as many women as they want, prompting a furious backlash from female politicians.
The bill, which amended existing marriage legislation, was passed late on Thursday to formalise customary law about marrying more than one person.
The proposed bill had initially given a wife the right to veto the husband's choice, but male members of parliament overcame party divisions to push through a text that dropped this clause, the AFP news agency reported.
"When you marry an African woman, she must know the second one is on the way, and a third wife... this is Africa," MP Junet Mohammed told the house, according to Nairobi's Capital FM.
As in many parts of Africa, polygamy is common among traditional communities in Kenya, as well as among the country's Muslim community, which accounts for up to a fifth of the population.
"Any time a man comes home with a woman, that would be assumed to be a second or third wife," said Samuel Chepkong'a, chairman of the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee, the Daily Nation newspaper reported.