Kenya: The Bride Price

That hallowed tribal custom, the bride price, is coming under fire. Africa’s young bachelors, caught between higher education and even higher inflation, are growing increasingly unhappy at the ancient laws that force the prospective groom to buy his bride from her parents. In Kenya, the dowry is often the equivalent of five years of the groom’s expectable income, usually payable in postmarital installments of livestock, bicycles and money. By the time the bartering is over and the wedding rolls around, only his in-laws have much cause for celebration: rather than losing a daughter, they are gaining a herd of cattle.

Angry Letters. Leading the attack is a generation of young Kenya urbanites who look upon the dowry as institutionalized blackmail. In Nairobi, the angry young men have formed a group called the Kenya Dowry Reformation Movement, and are flooding Nairobi pa pers with letters demanding an end. “The Attorney General should abolish this old and unwanted practice,” wrote one reformer. Another called for a general protest strike.

The campaign is gaining support. The East African Standard, largest paper in Nairobi, told its readers that bride prices, if not actually subversive to an emerging nation, are far too high. “No young girl can feel other than ashamed, in these times of personal freedom, to think she is sold by her parents to the highest bidder,” the paper wrote. The president of Kenya’s 50,000-member Women’s Movement thinks the solution lies in government price ceilings. Suggested ceiling price: $15.

Matter of Value. Few educated Africans are willing to destroy the custom entirely, for despite its iniquities, it is the only form of marriage insurance in many African societies. Tribal laws dictate that if a marriage breaks up because of the wife’s misdeeds, her husband gets his money back; if the fault is his, however, he can lose both bride and dowry. “The bride price amounts to peace of mind,” says American-educated Grace Wagema, head of Kenya’s Community Development Services. “Until we have a marriage law like the Europeans, it will continue to be the safest form of marriage.” At a Y.W.C.A. conference in nearby Uganda, the case was stated more bluntly. “How will our husbands value us unless they have given value for us?” asked one young delegate. Wondered another: “How can our husbands keep us faithful unless there is a dowry they can demand back?”