Two Kenyan men have signed an agreement to
"marry" the same woman. The woman had been having affairs with both
men for more than four years and apparently refused to choose between them. The
agreement sets out a rota for Sylvester Mwendwa and Elijah Kimani to stay in
her house and states they will both help raise any children she bears.
Mr Mwendwa told the BBC he loved the woman and said
the contract would "set boundaries" and "keep the peace". Community
policing Officer Adhalah Abdulrahman persuaded the two men to marry the woman
after he saw them fighting over her in Mombasa county, the local Daily Nation
newspaper reports. "We have agreed that from today we will not threaten or
have jealous feelings because of our wife, who says she's not ready to let go
of any of us," the agreement says, Kenya's NTV station reports.
"Each one will respect the day set aside for him.
We agree to love each other and live peacefully. No-one has forced us to make
this agreement," it adds. Mr Mwendwa said her parents had given their
blessing, while he is planning to pay the bride price. The woman, a widow with
two children, did not want to be named.
Mr Mwendwa told the BBC he did not marry the woman
simply to satisfy his sexual desires but because he loved her and, most of all,
her children.
Kenyan family lawyer Judy Thongori told the Daily Nation that the
law does not explicitly forbid polyandry. "The laws we have do not talk
about it but for such a union to be recognised in Kenya, it has to be either
under the statutory law or as customary marriage. The question we should ask
now is whether these people come from communities that have been practising
polyandry," she is quoted as saying.
Source: BBC
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