Controversial pastor T Mwangi now says dowry payment is a modern-day form of slavery and the leading cause of failed marriages in Kenya.
He explains that this is one of the reasons he refused to pay the bride price for his wife.
Speaking in an interview, the cleric argues that the whole concept is founded on patriarchy and that women risk being treated as property if this is embraced.
He claims the term ‘bride-price’ has an implication of a purchase or financial transaction which cannot be settled as women are more than a number of goats.
“You will always buy that woman for the price of her mother,” Pastor T claimed.
Pastor T says he will not accept dowry for his daughter
At the same time, Pastor T says by the virtue of him having a daughter, he is also against the idea of looking at her as an investment.
“I have a daughter, I can’t sell her, she is so expensive that 99 goats that eat grass cannot be exchanged for her,” he added.
He says he told his in-laws that ‘they’ do not pay dowry since her bride price is the blood of Jesus.
“They brought some elders but I told them that I come from a kingdom and we don’t pay dowry, ” he added.
The preacher highlighted that dowry payment among other widespread practices in many African societies like Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) should be abolished.
Pastor T and his wife have been married for close to five years now and have a daughter together.
