A 48-year old man from Ingwe village in Malava constituency, Kakamega county is said to have committed suicide just after paying his wife’s dowry.
According to sources, Philip Luvale might have decided to take the step because of marital issues that he had with his wife whom they had separated for more than 20 years.
However as a requirement of the Luhya culture, Luvale was supposed to pay the dowry to his in-laws.
Joseph Shivanda, a relative to the deceased said that the he had an obligation to pay the dowry and that the elders had forced him to do so.
“The dowry had to be paid according to Luhya custom, and the deceased had an obligation to pay the dowry to his wife, and maybe that made him to hang after he was forced by elders to do so,’’ Shivanda said
The deceased decided to pay the dowry and sent 8 people to his wife’s home at Eregi village who were to bring him a report on the reception.
The messengers left for his wife’s home village and returned later in the evening to inform him how the whole process had gone only to find his body hanging from the rooftop of his bedroom.
The deceased is said to have attempted suicide after suspecting that his wife was involved in an extramarital affair with one of the villagers in the past.
“Some years back the deceased had been complaining on how her wife allegedly was entangled in a relationship with one of the villager and suspected they acted in his matrimonial bedroom that made him loose hope in her,” Shivanda said
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