The President of Kenya has passed a law allowing Kenyan men to marry as many women as they want, while gay sex remains illegal in the country.

According to Agence France-Presse, President Uhuru Kenyatta signed the law yesterday.

Same sex sexual acts are punishable with five to fourteen years imprisonment in the country.

President Kenyatta said of the law: “Marriage is the voluntary union of a man and a woman whether in a monogamous or polygamous union.”

“All marriages registered under the Act have the same legal status.”

The law has attracted criticism from the Federation of Women Lawyers as it does not require a husband to have permission from his first wife to enter into further marriages, and it does not permit a woman to have more than one husband.