By Carolyne Necheza,
KAKAMEGA, Kenya, May 27- A 42-year-old widow from Cheptul village in the Manda-Shivanga ward of Kakamega County is seeking government intervention after her father-in-law drove her away from her matrimonial home.
The father-in-law, she said wanted her late husband’s relatives against her will.
Rebecca Moi was happily married for 8 years but her husband’s death in a road accident in August 2018 is tearing her home apart.
“I got married to Daniel Moi in 2012 and was blessed with 4 children before he died in a road accident at Chimoi area along Webuye-Eldoret highway,” she said during an interview with Shahidi News.
She added that “after his burial, my father-in-law demanded I get married to my brother in -law but I refused. He demolished my house and forced me out of his compound. The county government through the widow shelter program constructed for me a house but my father-in-law insisted that in order for me to officially start using the house I must be inherited by my brother-in-law.”
Rebecca sought help from village elders, the administrator of the area, and the children’s department who summoned the father-in-law but he remained adamant that she must get out of his home.
She was forced to stay at a rental house for three months but she was unable to pay and was left wandering on the streets until a neighbour took her to Tande area within the County. The owner of that house stays in Mombasa.
“The owner of the house is almost coming back and I don’t know how I will survive. I am appealing for the county and national government to intervene and help me get back into my home, give my children a decent life and take them to school since I survive on digging farms for people and hardly raise Sh150 which only enables me to buy maize flour,” a teary Rebecca said.
Her father-in-law demolished her matrimonial house when she was roaming on streets with her children.
She says a situation that saw the county government of Kakamega intervene and construct a house, gave her blankets and a mattress.
She noted that she resisted the practice because it is exposes her to many dangers including the risk of getting infected with sexually transmitted diseases.
According to Rebecca, she does not believe in wife inheritance and cares less about how society perceives it.
“I resisted the practice because it exposes you and your family to many dangers including the risk of getting infected with sexually transmitted diseases,” she said.
According to a community leader with GROOTS Kenya in Malava of Kakamega County, Emily Andanje, the culture of widow inheritance is still being practiced but silently in Western Kenya.
Though today it is not as pronounced as it used to be in the late 1960s, reality hits at the moment one spouse dies living the partner vulnerable and exposed.
She pointed out that many widows suffer in silence as a result of cultural expectations and fear of being ridiculed by family if they go against norms such as agreeing to be inherited.
“Such incidents should be condemned since they keep the lives of children and women at risk,” Andanie said.
“Wife inheritance is still being practiced whereby a widow is forced to marry a brother-in-law once the husband is dead in anticipation that he will protect her and ensure family continuity of the family. We condemn such and appeal for relevant authorities to take action and ensure the woman and her children get justice by returning to her home and children go to school.”
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