A 67-year-old Ugandan father of 102 children and 12 wives along with 568 grandchildren has finally decided that he’s done having kids because he cannot provide for them all on his own due to his deteriorating health and low income.
According to the Daily Mail, Musa Hasahya is married to 12 women, and they collectively have 568 grandchildren.
“I married one woman after another. How can a man be satisfied with one woman,” Musa said, according to The Sun. In Uganda, polygamy is legal.
The farmer wants to ensure he can provide enough food for everyone. So he requested that his wives use some form of birth control to help because the costs of caring for his enormous family are higher than in the past.
My income has become lower and lower over the years due to the rising cost of living, and my family has become bigger and bigger,” he told the publication.
Along with his wives, around a third of Musa’s children, aged between 6 and 51, live on his farm with him. All the wives stay in one house so he can keep an eye on them, so they don’t leave him for another man.
Musa was reported to have said: “it’s simple for me to watch them and also prevent them from eloping with other guys in this village,” he told the publication.
His youngest wife, Zulaika, the mother of 11 of his 102 children, is on board with his decision to not bear anymore kids.
“I’m not having any more children. I’ve seen the bad financial situation and am now taking the birth control pill,” she said.
The farmer claims he can distinguish between his 102 children, but he has trouble naming each of his 568 grandchildren along with his kids.
Musa dropped out of school when he was in grade six after his father failed to pay for his fees due to their financial situation. He later went to start a business selling millet that he grew in his hometown countryside village to sell in Kampala, Uganda.
The business was so successful that he started marrying as many wives as he pleased. Musa was wealthy and we-liked at the time, serving as the local chairman and recognized merchant in the neighborhood.
He made the decision to grow his family because he had the resources (land and money) to do so.
“I decided to increase the size of my family by marrying more ladies because I was able to earn something,” he stated.
“Since the soils are fertile, I made sure that hoes are provided for everyone of them to plow the ground and produce enough food to maintain the family.”
But now he has more responsibilities with paying for his children’s education along with his deteriorating health and low income which has led to him turning to the government for help.
