Authorities consider publishing database of all married persons to combat deceit and infidelity

TANZANIAN authorities are considering publishing the identities of all married men in the country on a website run by a state agency as part of efforts to curb marital cheating and protect young women from unnecessary heartbreaks.

Seen as a radical measure needed to curb the high rates of infidelity, promiscuity and divorce, the measure is also seen as a way of protecting young women who are preyed on by marrie3d men. If adopted, all married people would be required to register their marital statuses with their region’s database agency, which members of the public will have access to.

Dar es Salaam's regional commissioner Paul Makonda, said: “I have received a lot of complaints from young women. Many women from the Dar es Salaam region have been deceived many times and they have had enough.

“Men have been promising to marry them, then later, they ditch the ladies and 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, hoping that the man will marry her, not knowing that he is, indeed, conning 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."

When this new measure is introduced any woman who has been promised marriage can access the database to find out if the man who has made that promise is already married or not. According to Mr Makonda all the marriages, including Christian, customary and Muslim, that are filed at the registrar of marriages, will be registered on the database.

Makonda added: “We want to reduce the cases of men conning women in the name of love and marriages, so 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.”