By Timothy Kihumuro

Caleb Wandera, a resident of Buziga in Kampala may have made history when he married four women at a go in a traditional wedding ceremony in Kiira trading centre, Malebbo, Pallisa last weekend.

Wandera, a businessman working in Dubai married his wife Esther Nabirye with who he has a child and three other women Christine Tigatoola, Teopista Mawerere and Beatrice Bulakki in a colourful ceremony that was attended by an estimated 4000 people.

Wandera a Dubai-based businessman says he is content with how things have turned out and encourages fellow men to do the same. "I am a happily married man. As it is, I have a nice family, four beautiful brides and increased respect. Who says a man can not marry four women? Well! I have." Say's Wandera.

The groom is said to have four homes for each wife, although he has only two children with Esther Nabirye, who lives in Buziga, Kampala.Wandera a self-confessed Anglican acknowledges the values and customs of his people. "Africans have in built stamina and core traditions to follow," Wandera spoke in self-praise.
 
He added: "Traditionally, marriages in Pallisa are potentially polygamous. The prevalent view is that a real man demonstrates his manhood through having more than one wife," adds Wandera.

A number of organisations in Uganda like MIFUMI project and FFW (frontiers for women) have stepped up to fight polygamy arguing that it causes disharmony in the home, impoverishes the family and contributes to the HIV/AIDS. However, a few men are in favour of polygamy associating it with their manhood and viewing it as a source of free labour.

Bigan Howard, MIFUMI project, says polygamy is an inner expression of weakness by a man to avoid disappointment.

"Some men possess inner weakness not to face disappointment in case one relationship fails. So they uphold the old tradition to cover up their floors," says Howard.
Howard adds that polygamy creates both psychological and physical torture." Polygamy results into conflict in the home, because there is no way co - wives can cooperate. Those who pretend to do so are insincere."

During a meeting held by FFW (frontiers for women) at Hotel Africana in Kampala under the theme "alternative perspectives for rural women in Uganda", various views were shared like;

Miriam Chopit, a community counselor in Apac said "polygamy is a cost to the family especially these days when poverty is rampant and the cost of living is high. In the past, a second wife was an asset but now days, she is a liability. Farming is no longer as paying as it used to be. Government does not provide us with planting materials any more and we have no market for our produce."

Chopit adds that polygamy results into witchcraft as a way of the co - wives competing for the favours of their man.Brenda Chelimo, a social worker with Global Aid says most communities in Uganda are polygamous.

"HIV/AIDS has complicated the problems associated with polygamy and has aggravated domestic violence arising out of the so called marital rape. Even when your co - wife is evidently suffering from AIDS, your husband expects you to submit to his sexual demands moreover without protection," Argues Chelimo.

Margaret Turner, regional director FFW (frontiers for women) says polygamous marriages result into poverty because the already scarce resources in the family have to be shared with another woman and her children. blog comments powered by Disqus

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