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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Ryan Fahey

Polygamous dad with 102 children tells 12 wives to go on pill as he struggles to cope

A man with 12 wives has vowed not to have anymore children because he's struggling to cope with so many mouths to feed.

Musa Hasahya, 67, from Lusaka in Uganda where polygamy is permitted, has now ordered his wives of "child-bearing age" to take the contraceptive pill.

The dad-of-102 says he can't "tolerate bearing any more children because of the limited resources ".

He added that he's sent wives to family planning.

Musa also warned anyone planning to take "more than four wives" to swerve tying the knot.

The family live together on a compound with a 12-bedroom house in Lusaka, Uganda.

Musa says he struggles to tell his grandchildren apart and doesn't know some of them by name (Henry Wasswa / Avalon)

The head of the family says he can tell his 102 children apart, but struggles to identify each of his 568 grandchildren.

Some he doesn't even know by name.

Musa's first marriage was to wife Hanifa back in 1971 when he was just 16.

After tying the knot, he dropped out of school, and two years later he became a dad when the couple gave birth to a baby girl.

At the time, Musa was flush and a well-respected member of the community as a businessman and the village chariman.

Having the money and land to do so, he decided to add to the ranks of his family.

Polygamy, the marrying of more than one person, is legal in Uganda (Henry Wasswa / Avalon)

He said: "Because I was able to earn something, I decided to expand my family by marrying more women.

"I ensured that hoes are provided for each of them to till the land and produce food enough to support the family since the soils are fertile."

But after decades of births and marriages, he's now asking the government for assistance as he's struggling to fund the education of all of his children.

Speaking to The Sun the farmer said: “My income has become lower and lower over the years due to the rising cost of living and my family has become bigger and bigger.

"I married one woman after another. How can a man be satisfied with one woman.”

“All my wives live together in the same house. It’s easy for me to monitor them and also stop them from eloping with other men in this village,” Musa added.

Such a big family sounds like a recipe for disaster, but Musa says the nuclear relatives all get on well for the most part.

First wife Hanifa said: "He has a listening heart, he never rushes to make decisions before hearing from all the parties.

"He doesn't victimise anybody and he treats all of us equally."

Polygamy is legal in Uganda, allowing a man to marry multiple wives at once. Uganda's 2014 Census found that around 8.3 per cent of women were married or co-habiting in a polygamous relationship.

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