At least 20 women and human rights advocacy civil society organizations (CSOs) are pushing government to re-table the Marriage and Divorce Bill in a bid to help solve the myriad marriage-related problems.
The CSOs, including Uganda Women Parliamentary Association (Uwopa), Uganda Women Network (Uwonet), Action for Development (Acfode) and of Uganda Association of Women Lawyers (Fida), among others, argue that since Uganda signed the United Nations convention on regulation of all forms of discrimination against women, government must enact a law that protects women during and after marriage.
Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga has already listed the bill among the House’s priority legislations this parliamentary session.
According to Uwopa treasurer and Kamwenge Woman MP Dorothy Nshaija Azairwe, passing the Marriage and Divorce Bill is long overdue.
“In the last parliament, MPs were given Shs 5m each to consult their constituents on some of the controversial clauses of the bill. However, after consultations, the bill was not re-tabled.
“I feel consultations were made in the last parliament and it is time to have it passed into law,” Nshaija told The Observer on Wednesday.
Uwonet Executive Director Rita Aciro, in a separate interview, argued that the bill is essentially two separate Acts enacted in 1906, but needing a merger to suit the changing world we live in today.
“The Marriage and Divorce Bill is an amalgamation of the current Marriage Act and current Divorce Act, which we inherited from the British [since] 1906, put in place to regulate institutions or a particular sector,” Aciro told The Observer.
“Now it’s over 100 years and government needs to review this law just like many other laws we have reviewed in the country, including the Constitution,” she said.
The activists further argued that while some clauses in the existing marriage and divorce laws were nullified by courts of law, like the provision on bride price, society has kept them in existence, thus requiring fresh legislation.