In Uganda too we should reflect on our irrational ageism.
We have put a bar on the age for eligibility to stand for the Presidency of Uganda (72).
We have put a bar on the age for eligibility for Chancellor of Makerere University (70 ? ) ; ( I was shocked and saddened that a World Icon like Mzee Prof Ssenteza-Kajubi is barred ).
Even in the Federalist Constitutional Proposals, they have put in some arbitrary age limits. I asked one of the authors the rational of these limits and even he himself agreed that there is none.
We have to abandon the oppressive aspects of our culture and embrace enlightenment.
We wish Compatriot and Freedom fighter Mrs Wambui and her new husband Mr Peter Mbugua happy times and lots of fun.
Congratulations.
Mitayo Potosi
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From: Owor Kipenji <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: ugnet_: TRUTH ON AGE and MARRIAGE Date: Sun, 20 Jul 2003 02:02:39 +0100 (BST)
Editorial
Sunday, July 20, 2003
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Truth on age and marriageMrs Wambui Otieno, former Mau Mau fighter - and most times just a fighter - has bucked the trend, rebelled against the common values about age and marriage.
She has done so not just by taking a husband 42 years her junior, but being thoroughly pleased with herself when the social norms suggest that she should be hanging her head in mortification. But this is not just the story of a 67-year-old lonely widow reaching out in search of affection and attention.
It is a mirror to society and its values about age, sex and marriage. In our African traditions, a 67-year-old woman is supposed to have retired not only from work but from life. Hers is a sad, in the case of widows, lonely game of waiting for death; a dependent and basically useless existence.
But these are the values of a young population, a society made up of young people whose outlook in life is basically ageist: That it is only the young, energetic and beautiful who have a right to happiness and life.
As Kenyans discuss and pass judgment on Wambui and her young husband, their eye must stray to the clock: Our population must age, there will increasingly be more affluent and liberal people in their 60s and 70s. These are independent people who want to retire from neither work nor life.
Equally, society is hypocritically sexist. When an elderly man marries a young girl, the eyebrow is only ironically raised. In truth, the man is the object of his agemates' secret admiration and the younger men's jealousy, but rarely is the union regarded as repulsive or unnatural. Is it really sustainable to have one rule for men and another for women?
At the end of the day, everyone is entitled to their own views. Just like Wambui and her husband have a right to live their lives in a fashion of their own choosing.
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