LAGOS JANUARY 27TH (URHOBOTODAY)-The government of Eritrea has threatened its adult males with life imprisonment if they don’t embrace polygamy.
A statement from the country’s Department of Religious Affairs reportedly released on Monday said men must marry two wives or more or risk spending the rest of their lives behind bars.
The Department, in the statement, rationalized this new law by making reference to the scarcity of men to marry the huge population of women without husbands.
According to the new law, the country’s social problems have been worsened by the decision of some men to stick to one wife and the refusal of some women to allow their husbands marry more eves.
The country has been hit by acute shortage of men due to the thousands of male casualties suffered during its independence war with Ethiopia.
In the statement, the government gave the assurance that it will give financial support to the polygamous marriages.
The statement read in part: “Based on the law of God on polygamy, and given the circumstances in which the country is experiencing in terms of men shortage, the Eritrean department of Religious Affairs has decided on the following”.
First that every man shall marry at least two women and the man who refuses to do so shall be subjected to life imprisonment with hard labour.
“The woman who tries to prevent her husband from marrying another wife shall be punished to life imprisonment.”
Between May 1998 to June 2000, Eritrean-Ethiopian war saw 150,000 soldiers killed from either sides but having a bigger impact on male population in the tiny Eritrea nation which was then just about 4million people in total.