Meet Rael Mukeku, a Polyandrous Kenyan Woman

A Kenyan woman has opened up about her 'happy' marriage to two husbands. 35-year-old Rael Mukeku from Kathekakai village in Makueni County says she stays with the two men who are happy with the rare marriage arrangement.

While polygamous marriages are still common in Kenya despite slowly losing their place in today's society, it is rare to find polyandrous setting. 

The mother of 11 says she married her first husband in 1992, aged only 10 after dropping out of school at standard two.

“I married my first husband in 1992 and we were blessed with our first child the following year. I have had 10 other children since then,” Ms Mukeku told Daily Nation.

After getting seven children with his first husband, the woman then married a second man despite living in poverty.

“The second husband came when I had seven children already. He didn’t like taking care of the children unless some of them were his and this is how we ended up getting more children,” she reveals.

The two men work as casual labourers but she says she does not regret marrying them or giving birth to several children. 

“My only mistake is that I settled on men who are not rich, but this does not worry me much because they are caring and loving,” she says while recalling a recent incident where her husbands teamed up to care for her during an illness.

“One sold all his three goats and a kid to clear the hospital bill, while the other provided the money we needed for the day to day upkeep,” she says.

Her decision to take a second husband was informed by the failure of her first to meet her physical needs. Muema Nguu, who is 50, and sickly, wasn't able to 'satisfy' her so he agreed to the idea of having a co-husband but requested to first meet his would-be co-husband as a condition.

“It got to a point where he advised me to identify one man and officially introduce him,” she says. "It was a difficult decision. It was preceded by a difficult period in which I had become weak after suffering a long illness."

A deal witnessed by an elder and one of their adult sons was struck but at first Mr Nguu struggled to come to terms with the changes.

He says: “Upon realising that he had impregnated her I got mad and warned that such should not be repeated”.

He has since embraced his co-husband with whom they a lot in common. “My relatives are not happy with this arrangement, but every time they complain I remind them that they have refused to help me raise my children,” says Mr Nguu.

Ms Mukeku says that whenever the two men happen to be at home at the same time “they do not fight over anything because they agreed to be in this relationship”.