Kenya: Great Polygamist Passes On

By Eric Sande

Ndhiwa, Kenya---At 92, one Asentus Ogwella Akuku known to many as “Akuku Danger” took his last bow at dawn on Sunday, leaving behind 210 children and over 100 wives. He was Kenya’s most polygamous man, whose appetite for marriage only matched the biblical King Solomon.

Akuku the ‘population factory’, was the master of conquest. He dressed, laughed and even danced with a motive to attract women. At 22 he had customarily wedded five women. By the age of 35 he was making his vows to the 45th wife to be.

One may wonder Akuku’s supernatural influence to woo women and make life time commitment together thus his peers gave him the name “Akuku Danger”.

Mutuma Mathiu a columnist at the Daily Nation In 1999 said this about Akuku: “I have read in the Press this past week about a person called Akuku Danger, 80, married more than 90 times, husband to 45 women, father to more than 200 daughters and close to 100 sons, grandfather and great- grand father to an unknown number of Kenyans.”

A fee was charged to journalists and tourists who paraded for a visit to Akuku’s home in Ndhiwa District,Nyanza province. The family spokesman, Mr Tom Akuku one of the sons of late Akuku, said only 40 of his father’s many marriages were recognised by the Luo customary laws. He said that out of the 40 wives, only 22 were still alive.

Married over 130 times and divorced more than 80 of his wives and fathered more than 200 children, those will be some content that will not miss in this famous African polygamist eulogy.

Speaking to the Standard, Akuku once said, “I’m called Danger because I overshadowed many men when it came to women. I was very handsome. I dressed well and I knew how to charm women with sweet talk. No woman could decline my advances. I was a magnet.”

The Kenyan constitution only allows for monogamy, and for it to happen the Akuku style one will have to use the customary law which is recognized by the government to initiate polygamous marriages.