Kenyans react to report ranking Kenyan men as most faithful in Africa

By Lisa Kamau, Citizen Digital; 2 July 2015

Kenyan men are the least likely to have children with more than one woman out of 25 African countries, according to a recently released report.

Gabon, Liberia and Republic of Congo lead the pack respectively, recording highest number of unfaithful men in the continent. East African neighbours, Uganda, follow on at fourth position

According to the report titled State Of The World’s Fathers produced by MenCare, African men are among the most likely in the world to father children with more than one woman.

Expectedly, most Kenyan men have lauded the report agreeing fully to its findings.

Jeremiah, a University of Nairobi student, says Kenyan men are misunderstood, “The report is very factual. Kenyan men in most cases actually extend gentle gestures without expecting any favours like sex from a lady.”

Surprisingly, other men have questioned the truth of the report. Shadrack, a social media specialist in Nairobi, terms the findings as baseless, “I totally disagree with that report because Kenyans are very westernised, and in this sense we love women and we look for them from all over. It is very hard for a Kenyan man to settle down nowadays without looking out for other women. However, the researchers have their own reasons.”

The 27-year-old further adds, “In fact 90 per cent of my male friends between the ages of 25 and 40 are not faithful. They have more than three women, with some having kids in the different relationships. There are male university students I know in the age bracket of 21 to25 years who are currently fathering children. Unless the report came from a different Kenya, I don’t know.”

Women too do not agree with the research findings.

Wambui, a 24-year-old city lady says, “I don’t agree with the research findings. Judging from my friends’ relationships, only two out of five cases are stable. When I was in a relationship, I did not see that faithfulness.”

Wairimu further questions element of the report which reveals Kenyan men as having minimal cases of children outside marriages, “Based on the radio programs I listen to in the morning that allow women to call and lament on how their husbands have children and mpango wa kandos outside marriages, and also the social media pages that cropped up such as Deadbeat Kenya, I noticed there is a huge problem.”

The report additionally looks at the role of fathers as caregivers. Although men might want to be more involved in raising children and in domestic tasks, there is often a lot of resistance and stigma, the 2015 reports says.

According to one Nairobi resident who claimed anonymity, it is financial constraints which prompt Kenyan men to escape child support, “If you look at cost of raising a child from age zero to something, it is really huge. Many of us are not prepared to have children with mpango wa kandos, and some are products of mistake while having fun at tender ages.”

This is the first time a global status report on fatherhood has been published, while the State of the World’s Mothers has been published since 1999 and State of the World’s Children has been published since 1996.

Out of 39 countries sampled around the world, African countries take up 25 slots on the rankings where men have children with multiple women.

The multi-women fathers include polygamous men, married men who cheat on their partners, and unmarried men having sexual relationships with different women.