Similar displays have caused an uproar with some people feeling that it is inappropriate for women to dance topless. Others however, feel that it is no more than a display of African culture.

I figure Mardi Gras must be something like this!

Every day we wake up to the sound of vuvuzelas in the streets. It is like a clarion call for all football fans to wake up to another day of electrifying games. South Africa has been swept away by the vuvuzela tide. Always the radical, I promised myself that I would not conform to popular culture. I detested these vile, offensive noise makers. But eventually, I let my hair down and puckered up. Still, many shops here now advertise great deals on ear plugs or “anti-vuvuzela devices”. Read full story here.

Ghanaians cheering at the 2010 World Cup.

Marriage comes with so much sacrifice and hard work. It takes a lot of patience and humility to be married. And that is a great, great challenge. Why would any man in their right mind want more than one wife? And why would any woman want to share their husband with another woman?

Some people argue that with polygamy comes a larger workforce and more income – relative if you ask me. Other people argue that the ratio of women to men is quite large, which makes it necessary for men to take more than one wife. Otherwise most of us women would die lonely old spinsters. For some, the fact that polygamy is part of our cultural heritage is a compelling argument.

Granted, polygamy has been a tradition in many cultures. And it may once have made a lot of sense to be polygamous. Men went off to war and were killed, a lot of field hands were required to cultivate the acres of land owned by families, widowed women and their children could be cared for in a period when women could not fend for themselves, wives from different communities gave men political mileage.

It seems that polygamy was more of a survival tactic back then because men and women had clearly defined roles and personalities. While men solved problems and protected the family, women nurtured children and kept the house clean. Today, women and men cannot be defined by these traditional roles. Today, most women believe in individual freedom and personal responsibility. Women are no longer passive or voiceless but rather assertive and confident and independent. Women’s social roles have expanded greatly. Women have been drawn out of the home and into the corporate world; into public life. Marriage has seized to become a means of survival for women; it is now an optional means to have companionship and legacy.

So what is the justification for polygamy today? Some people feel pride in having large nuclear families; others are seeking sexual gratification with a variety of mates. In other cases men live their wives in the rural area and travel to the city to look for jobs and while in the city, marry again. Are these valid reasons to practice polygamy? Is polygamy a deterrent to infidelity?

While some may argue that polygamy is better than unfaithfulness, serial marriage or divorce, nothing beats the core relationship of one woman to one man. It is impossible for a man to love each wife equally and to commit to each wife equally-unless of course each wife is cared for less than adequately.

Polygamy today is about ego and over sexuality. It is no longer obligatory for anyone to marry more than one wife. It is an archaic practice in this era of equal opportunity and a dwindling economy. It is a barbaric practice carried out by some in the name of tradition, and by some, in the name of religion. Female genital mutilation and ritual killings were cultures practiced (and are still being carried out) in some cultures but have been openly denounced as morbid and heartless acts. Polygamy should be denounced as baseless and immoral and psychologically abusive to women and children.

Polygamy has been said to conform to man’s natural instinct for more than one woman. This only serves to reduce the human race to that of wild animals where heinous behaviour is excusable. This argument is a poor and desperate excuse for people seeking to hold onto prehistoric ideals.

While different cultures continue to embrace polygamy, it is not enough to practice it just because one can. The fact of the matter is that, there is no single valid reason for the practice of polygamy today.

For love or money?

Let’s just say for the sake of argument that EABL’s sponsorship of the sevens tournament was philanthropic, then don’t you think we might have seen more of an effort on EABL’s part to develop the sport; to develop the RFUEA grounds; to support the local sevens circuit; something? And no, Tusker did not increase the popularity of the sevens version of the game in the country; the national sevens team did. The only thing that EABL and their Tusker brand succeeded in doing was increasing the popularity of the safari village with the endless flow of tuskers and late night parties.

So did KRFU benefit from this partnership? Of course they did. With the funding they were able to host what is most likely the highlight of the KRFU calendar each year for thirteen years. They made a healthy sum in gate collections and they managed to put Kenya on the world map in so far as world class tournaments are concerned. But take into account the money spent by KRFU to get ‘star teams’ here, where EABL didn’t pitch in, accommodation costs for teams, payment of service providers and so on, and may be you can begin to realise that the spoils weren’t as lucrative as we sometimes made them out to be. No doubt the tournament made a profit but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t much to speak of. They could have done a lot more with the opportunity they had.

Milking the ‘cash cow’

Who better to understand a rugby market and fraternity than a rugby governing body? I would like to think that the underscoring factor put into consideration when signing the initial deal with EABL was not how easy it would be to provide beer to the rugby fans. There must have been a grand plan in place to make the most of the opportunity; a plan that went well beyond hosting the safaris sevens tournament. You know, like a long term plan so that when KRFU looked back in ten years they could see tangible benefits of having hosted a great tournament successfully for several years? What was the goal and was it attained is what I’d like to know. If it was attained then well in and adios Tusker, you served your purpose! But if there was a plan that is not any closer to being achieved than it was ten years ago, then dear KRFU, EABL just screwed you.

No debate needed about whether or not EABL milked their cash cow. They sold beer. Period.

Generally, and perhaps more so with sports, sponsorships raise awareness among consumers. Consumers will see an association between the product and the sport. Rugby elevated the status of Tusker for rugby fans.

The danger for KRFU is that the rugby brand and Tusker became inextricably linked and this probably turned off other target markets for the sport. The challenge now would be to repackage rugby and disassociate the Safari Sevens with drunken weekends and underage bingeing.

End of the road?

There are many tales about what happened where that led to the termination of the contract; that someone somewhere is flexing muscles or that someone is ‘a woman scorned’. I personally, for diplomacy’s sake have chosen to go with the Elgon Cup-what’s-in-the-contract-and-what’s-not-in-the-contract-story.

This is the definitely the end of the road for EABL and rugby. But I think that it is just the beginning for KRFU. This is a much awaited chance to get serious and explore this tournament to its full potential. It is a chance to start a fresh, with experience gained and develop an equally beneficial relationship with safari sevens sponsors. And rebrand rugby in Kenya.