Women activists support Bill
Uganda Women Network members (R-L) Rhoda Kalema, Betty Kasiko, and Sheila Kawamara during the press briefing in Kampala yesterday. PHOTO BY GEOFFREY SSERUYANGE.
What you need to know:
The Ugandan Women Network members say the perception that the Bill will grant automatic divorce is not true.
Women activists have backed the now controversial Marriage and Divorce Bill, calling on MPs to expedite the passing of the 47-year-old Bill.
The activists, working under the Marriage and Divorce Bill Coalition, say the debate is being handled with emotion and the discussions on the contentious issues are “unfortunately fictitious.” “The Marriage and Divorce Bill Coalition today thought it prudent to state the truth, correct and put right those misconceptions by clearly expressing the Bill’s position,” said Ms Sheila Kawamara, the Uganda Women Network board chairperson, during a press briefing at their headquarters in Ntinda. “There is a lot of negativity in the discussion of the Bill, but it’s good to at least see politicians ganging up and debating issues irrespective of Party lines. They should know that even as women, we go into marriages because of love and we want to have children.”
The proposed law provides grounds for divorce in case of adultery, sexual perversion, cruelty, and desertion of one’s spouse for at least two years. Other conditions are change of religion, incest, bestiality, sodomy, homosexuality or pornography.
Opponents of the proposed Bill, however, argue that the law will make it easy for people to divorce at will, thus weakening the marriage institution. However, the female activists argue that the divorce is not an automatic right that the Bill seeks to grant.
“The Bill has inbuilt measures to ensure that divorce is a last option,” said Ms Kawamara. “We are saying that one cannot petition for divorce before the expiry of two years from the date of marriage, and it can only be attained after court has proved that a spouse is suffering exceptional hardships in marriage.”
Last week, Bishop of Kasana-Luweero Diocese Paul Ssemwogerere described the Bill, in its current state, as anti-Christian and called on MPs to scrap sections that promoted divorce and cohabitation.
