Dowry payment for Kisii community is not as difficult as when paying dowry for a Kikuyu lady. Payment of dowry in Kisii involves few processes.
Step 1
The first step is to visit your girlfriend/wife’s home for negotiation. Immediately you arrive at your wive’s home, you’ll find village elders waiting .
The elders will state what they want from you, mostly cows and money. You will then counter the demands by giving your offer. Negotiations will continue until you arrive at a central figure and total number of animals.
You will then state the date you are delivering the cows and money.
Step 2
The second step is to take the dowry in person alongside some of the family members and selected community members.
Step 3
The third step is for the lady’s family to bring food which include goat meat and brown ugali. Women from the lady’s family will deliver the meal.
The idea of taking the meal to the man’s home is to cement the relationship between the two families.
Normally, the dowry is not paid at once, you can pay a proportion of the amount agreed and pay in installments later.
Amount of money and cows to pay
The amount of money to pay ranges between Ksh50,000 to Ksh 1000,000 depending on the lady’s education background and factors like the family’s social status. The average amount you should pay is Ksh 100,000
The number of cows to pay range between 2 and 10. The average number is 4 cows, but remember there must be a bull .
You will also be required to pay goats, normally 2-4 goats.
During negotiations, you might be told to pay 6 cows but if you don’t have ready cows, you can decide to pay the money. For 6 cows you pay Ksh 150,000 to Ksh210,000.
Kisii people are not strict in terms of dowry payment,you can live with their woman for decades until you decide to pay.Most people pay after 3-10 years of living together.But if it’s a wedding you are doing,you must pay dowry first.
