Burundi orders all unmarried couples to get married or else!

Burundi has come up with a crazy new directive that will compel all unmarried couples to get married.

That is: all unmarried couples in Burundi now have less than two months to wed, failure to which they will face punishment that includes a jail term.

This is in line with a controversial law signed by President Pierre Nkurunziza in May 2017 which is pegged on creating a “more moral Burundian society”.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Burundi’s Minister for Human Rights Martin Nivyabandi said:

“After December punishment will be carried out towards those families who will not be legally married…If they don’t respect the law some of them will be taken to court and jailed.”

In May 2017, President Nkurunziza launched a campaign “to moralize society” where he urged Burundians to show their love for each other and their country by getting married.

Since then, the government of Burundi has been pressuring unwed couples across the country to tie the knot.

The Burundian government insists that having a legal marriage protects women and their children, especially when it comes to issues of inheritance.

The Muslim community in the East African country is up in arms because their religion allows men to marry as many as four wives. Amisa Hakisimana said:

“It will be unfair if the law forces the man to register only one wife, what happens to the other wives?”