Man left speechless by his Kamba babe’s shocking dowry list
A Kenyan man by the name Heyi Gregory has been left speechless after he was presented with a dowry requirement list expensive enough to probably build a two-bedroom house!
The man unveiled the list that is aptly titled ‘Kamba traditional dowry ceremony payment’, on Twitter as he sought to establish if indeed that is what a Kamba traditional wedding demands or had been modified to include personal interests from the bride’s side.
For the initiation ceremony the list included five goats, two crates of beer, 40 liters of traditional beer, four standard sixe blankets and bed sheets each, two crates of ripe bananas and three crates of sodas.
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As if that was not enough, a separate list for the dowry payment was also presented. The first item on the list was 84 goats. You will remember that the average price of one goat in today’s economy is about Sh 7,000. Will this man rob a bank or take a loan? Or is he a dynasty baby for the family to confidently hand over such a hefty and heavy dowry list?
Also in the list were 12 cows, three 10,000 liters water tanks (they probably required him to have them covered in case the rains decided to continue playing hide and seek with them), eight more crates of beer (after sherehe sheria, this is good vibes and Insha’Allah!), ten 20 liter jerricans of traditional beer (YOLO?) and 4 chunks of unripe bananas.
To further make him sweat money, the family additionally asked for 2 debes of honey or 100 kilograms of sugar (a 2 kg of sugar retails at about Sh 320 right now!), 12 sets of 12 stems of sugarcane, Four 90kg bags of maize and two 90 kg of beans, ‘fimbo ya mzee’ at a cost of Sh 100,000, his ‘kabati’ at Sh 50,000; and mukwa and nduua itaa at a total cost Sh 350,000.
Additional traditional items required of the groom included the bride’s mother’s basket, an ‘envelope’ for the parents and another one for the older male relatives (a paltry Sh 20,000!).
Many told Gregory that the list was factual but the cost of the items may have been exaggerated. One tweep asked if the bride had graduated and was wealthy for the family to ask for such a hefty dowry but Gregory said she did not have and he was the one who did everything for her.
Others told him to go ahead and pay the dowry because men were no longer valuing their wives and this was a show of good faith to the bride’s family.
If you were Gregory, would you pay this bride price? Would you agree to a white wedding afterwards of mtakanyaga kubwa kubwa to the Attorney General’s office with your two witnesses and eat fast food at Sonford and Sons after the civil wedding? Do let us know…
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