Wife inheritance is an affliction that has gripped several African societies for centuries. Widely practised across the entire continent, it is a tradition where a widow gets inherited by relatives of her late husband.
This oppressive tradition once thought to be an honourable practice, involved taking care of the widow and her children without giving her the option of remarrying.
According to Wikipedia, widow inheritance is a cultural and social practice whereby a widow is required to marry a male relative of her late husband, often his brother. It is also known as bride inheritance.
All across the African continent, wife inheritance is commonly practised; among the Dinka or Jieng of South Sudan, the Luo in Kenya and Uganda around Lake Victoria.
Under the customary law, the presumption is that the widows and their children will be taken care of by the deceased’s kin, however, this is a notion that hardly ends up benefitting the widow.
For the Luo men in Kenya, this practice of wife inheritance has gone beyond being companions for the spouses of their brother. The men have grown to become greedy predators who are only out to exploit women whose spouses have died.
They pretend to remarry the women but their aim is to gain control of the resources in the hands of the woman left by her dead husband and at the same time have sęx with them. The locals call these men “Professional Jater”, which translates to professionals in remarrying.
For the Dinka or Jieng community of South Sudan, if a woman loses her husband she would have no one to provide services for the deceased’s remaining family.
Hence, that’s why she can be forced to marry within the family bloodline because her in-laws would not want someone outside of the family bloodline to inherit her late husband’s property or estate.
Another form of wife inheritance is that when a married woman dies, her sister is obliged to replace her in the matrimonial home. The South Sudanese, particularly Dinka people call it – “Nyan ci lokweuic” i.e. replacement of a deceased’s married woman by her sister in the matrimonial home.
