In Summary
- Man was called Danger because women were attracted by his handsomeness
By OTIENO OWIDA otienoowida@yahoo.com and MAURICE KALUOCH mrcaluoch207@gmail.com
The man who claims to have married more than 100 wives and divorced 30 — perhaps Kenya’s most prominent polygamist — has died.
Ancentus
Akuku “Danger”, the towering nonagenarian took his final bow from a
life in which his appetite for marriage rivalled the Biblical King
Solomon.
At his home, are graves of 12 wives and 46
surviving ones. He once said he had hundreds of children, and that 35
sons and 20 daughters had died.
So many were his children and wives that the family built a church and two primary schools to accommodate them.
According to his eldest son, Dr Tom Akuku, Danger — as he was popularly known — collapsed in the compound of his home.
Father collapsed
“My
father collapsed and was rushed to St Camilus Hospital in Karungu,
Nyatike District, where his condition deteriorated. He was then
transferred to Kisumu. We first took him to Agan Khan Hospital to be
admitted in the intensive care unit but unfortunately, the ICU was full,
prompting us to take him to New Nyanza.
“After he was
certified dead, we took his body back to St Camilus mortuary” said Dr
Akuku who runs a clinic in Mbita Town. That was on Saturday night.
Dr
Akuku, the chairman of the family welfare association, said that his
father brought up a family of diverse professionals including doctors,
engineers, teachers and policemen. He cherished education.
In
the 1970s, he founded and established two primary schools — Aora
Chuodho and Kogore primary schools — to cater for his many children.
Due
to his influence in the community, politicians interested in the Ndhiwa
parliamentary seat coalesced around him, seeking advice.
Independence politicians like Jaramogi Oginga Odinga and Tom Mboya were some of his closest friends.
He married his first wife, Dinah Akuku, in 1939, while the youngest wife, Josephine Akuku, 35, was married in 1992.
He
said he was called Danger because of his good looks which women found
hard to resist. His most conservative estimate is that he had 160
children.
He has four villages — Manyuanda, Aora
Chuodho, Kogore and Okayo in Karungu in Nyatike District, as well as
other sub-homes, as he referred to them.
In a past
interview, he said he drew his strength in old age as he was careful
about what he ate. He avoided fat and had a particular time to eat.
He said he was responsible for the name choice of his children as a strategy to help him bond with them.
His was an empire built around small-scale business, hard working children and from the dowry paid for his many daughters.
Akuku’s
family works on large parcels of land where they plant food crops. He
was also a cattle dealer and most of his wives are small-scale traders.
Although not formally educated, his business acumen and oratory prowess allowed him to mingle with the high and mighty.
His
fame went beyond borders, and his home hosted the international
journalists seeking the story of a man who became polygamous at 22.
In addition, within the Homa Bay County, he was one of the most revered leaders who did not shy away from speaking his mind.
As
the family grew, the older ones took the responsibility of education
and feeding the younger ones, maintaining one of the biggest family
trees in the region.
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FROM ABCNEWS.GO.COM(excerpts)
Danger' Akuku Dies and Leaves Behind 100 Widows
Kenya's most prominent polygamist has died having married more than 100
women in his lifetime and fathered nearly 200 children. Nicknamed
"Danger" because women were so attracted by his handsome looks, Ancentus
Akuku was in his late 90's when he passed away of natural causes.
Akuku Danger was legendary in Kenya. He married his first wife in 1939
and became polygamist some 70 years ago at the age of 22. He's outlived
12 of his wives, marrying the last one in 1992. There were so many
children in his family that Akuku established two elementary schools
solely to educate his children, as well as a church for his growing
family to attend.
In past interviews Akuku told local journalists he was responsible for naming all of his children, as way to bond with them.
His death was the number one topic of Kenyan media today. Radio stations
featured call-in shows of people, especially men, paying their
respects. In many tribes having several wives was a sign of wealth and
status for a man. Danger Akuku represented the ultimate symbol of
traditional manhood -- and of a time when gender relations seemed more
simple than today.
'Danger' Akuku Dies, Leaving 100 Widows
"We all understand that polygamy was allowed back then in some Kenyan
communities, but Akuku is something else," said Linet Wambui, a Nairobi
saleswoman.
The closest modern-day equivalent may be
Swaziland's King Mswati III,
who currently has 14 wives and 23 children. South Africa's President
Jacob Zuma has been criticized for having married five women and siring
over 20 children, which he defends as part of his Zulu culture.
Still, no one comes close to Akuku Danger, say those who are mourning the myth as well as the man.
"I think Akuku Danger was a character of his own nature," said Kilumi
"He can only be compared to the prophet Solomon in the Bible."
Some Biblical accounts say that Solomon, the son of King David and later King of Israel, had 700 wives and 300 concubines.
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Wilfred Wambura contributed to this
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FROM BBC NEWS
With 210 children, Akuku Danger takes his last bow By | Updated
Mon, October 4th 2010
By Baraka Karama and Nicholas Anyuor
He was the grand master of seduction. He dressed, laughed and even
danced with a motive to attract women. So tough was Asentus Ogwella
Akuku that by the time he was 22 years old, he had married five women.
At 35, he married his 45th wife and his peers named him ‘Danger’ because
of his magic with women and love for polygamy. The late Asentus Akuku
‘Danger’ poses with his youngest wife Christine Ajwang’ at his home in
Ndhiwa in this 2008 photograph Akuku at a function Akuku with some of
his family members .Arguably one of the world’s
best known polygamists, Akuku, is said to have married 130 times, had
divorced more than 80 of his wives and sired more than 200 children. His
death at dawn on Sunday brought down the curtain on one of the most
industrious men of Africa and a global case study in the troubles
institution of marriage. He was 92. So large is Akuku’s family that when
his wives and children would finally be asked to stand up during his
burial, more than half of the mourners would probably rise on their
feet. Those who knew him agree that if ever there would be an award for a
successful polygamist, he would get the gold. Polygamy occupied his
heart so much so that it was no longer a family affair but an industry.
Towards his sunset years, Mzee Akuku started charging fees for media
interviews. Journalists and tourists who trooped to his main home in
Ndhiwa District had to pay ‘fees.’ First wife -The grand master of
polygamy married his first wife in 1939 and his last in 1997 when he was
79. The woman was then only 18. Today, she has three children. The
family spokesman, Mr Tom Akuku, however, 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. “Mzee sired 210
children–104 daughters and 106 sons, some of whom have since died,” said
Tom. Akuku’s family that include more than 200 grand children live in
Kanyamwa and Aora Chuodho areas in Ndhiwa district and Karungu in the
neighbouring Nyatike district. His sons and grand children are well
educated and work in the civil service and the private sector. “He has
been our advisor and guardian,” said Dorcas Matunga, the Homa Bay County
Council Chairperson and one of the late Akuku’s daughters-in-law. Mzee
Akuku collapsed at one of his homes in Ndhiwa and died on arrival at the
Nyanza Provincial Hospital at 2 am yesterday. He was suffering from
diabetes. So what magic did Akuku Danger have on women? He once told our
sister paper, The Standard On Sunday: “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.” Special food-- He says he
managed to keep physical fitness through a strict diet. “I avoid too
much fat and salt and it helped me to escape diseases,” he said. He
added: “I eat at the right time and I just don’t eat anything. I am
served traditional food that is well prepared. I always eat a fruit
after meals. Akuku was a disciplinarian and ruled his large family with
an iron fist. He knew all the children by name and made a roster on when
to spend on which house. “I divorced women who misbehaved,” he once
said. Akuku was later quoted as saying: “I lived a lavish lifestyle. I
was always ready to spend money on women.” He said that to keep a woman
one had to respond to her immediate needs. One of his grand children,
Maureen Ochido said: “My grandfather was a very social and loving man
who was often misunderstood. She said a burial date has not been set.”
As Kenyans often say of a departed fellow, ‘Danger’ has left a gap that
will be difficult to fill because many men have failed the test of
seduction, leave alone polygamy
.
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