In Tanzania, the local government of one of its biggest city Dar es Salaam is considering publishing the identities (photos inclusive) of all married men in order to protect single women from having their hearts broken unnecessarily.
The plan was pitched by the city’s regional commissioner Paul Makonda on Monday, August 12.
According to Paul Makonda, women would be allowed to search an online, state-run public database featuring the names and photos of all Dar es Salaam’s married men.
According to the commissioner, what prompted this move was that he received a lot of complaints from women who were promised marriage by men who then turned out to be married already. Having heard the heart-cries of the single women in the city, Paul Makonda has launched out to take action.
If his proposal is adopted, all married people will be required to register their marital statuses with the region’s database agency.
The information will reportedly be accessed by all male citizens of the country including men in Christian, Muslim and customary marriages.
In a conversation with The Citizen, Makonda had this to say: “I have received a lot of complaints from young women.
Many women from Dar-es-Salaam region have been deceived many times, and they have had enough.
“These charming men have been promising to marry them, then ditch the women after using them. This is something that is humiliating.
These cunning men have left many women nursing heartbreaks and emotional bruises.
“You’ll find a young man successfully wooing a woman, making her leave every other thing that she does and follows you, hoping that the man will marry her only to realise he is just using her. If you look at the laws that we have in the country, there is a clause that protects women, who were promised marriages, only to be used and dumped.
We want to use that clause to bring sanity in relationships.
“I cannot say I am a leader, when the people I look after are hurting.
One of the ideas that we have is to have all the married people register their marital statuses with the region’s database agency.
This will help young women promised marriages.
“It would be easy for them to access the database and find out whether the men who have promised to marry them are people’s husbands or not.
In that database, all the marriages, including Christian, customary, Muslim, those filed at the registrar of marriages, will be registered.
“We want to reduce the cases of men conning women in the name of love and marriages. We are planning to meet the State agency in charge of the citizens’ database.
Once that meeting is done, you, who lied to a woman that you will marry her, but ended up using and dumping her, be prepared, we are coming for you.”