Joseph Kaguthi. He wants men from Kiambu to marry more than one woman. [Photo: juliahhnna.wordpress.com]
To fill many classrooms in Central Kenya that have become empty for lack of students calls for increased population to shore up labour force.
And in a radical proposal to see this happen, Nyumba Kumi initiative chairman, Joseph Kaguthi, has a plan for Kiambu and the larger Central Kenya region.This is after starting a campaign to encourage men in the Mt Kenya region to be allowed to practice polygamy. The proposal is meant to reduce the high rate of single parents, according to Nairobi News.He says the move will also increase the region’s population, which he argues has dwindled due to increased alcohol abuse and failure by women to get married. Kaguthi also, reportedly, asked women to stop being “mean”.The former government administrator who was addressing religious and community leaders from Embu, Meru and Tharaka Nithi counties at Minni Inn hotel in Embu, also called for the standardisation of bride price and dowry to enable more men to marry.The publication says that Kaguthi urged elders to sensitise members of the public on the need to sire more children who will be brought up in a family with both parents.“We are cautioning everybody, including the young females, don’t be mean, we want children. We mean business,” Kaguthi was quoted as saying.Kaguthi said he was not afraid of being referred to as a radical for advocating the initiative.