Acholi to draft a bylaw on bride price, says chief

The Acholi Paramount Chief David Onen Acana II has said the cultural institution will soon make consultations to draft a bylaw to avoid exorbitant payment of bride price being asked by parents before their daughters are married off.
Rwot Acana said the proposals follow overwhelming complaints from his subjects that they are unable to marry their wives because of the high bride price being asked by their in-laws.
While delivering his end of year message at the weekend at his palace in Bardege Division, Rwot Acana said the cultural institution is deeply concerned by the high bride price that is discouraging men from marrying.
“Marriage in Acholi has been made ugly, yet in actual sense marriage in this culture is beautiful. The high bride price is discouraging men from marrying their lovers,” he said.
He noted that through the proposals of enacting a bylaw, the cultural institution intends to have powers that discourage overpayment of dowry and ensure that marriage does not become commercial.
“I want to see if I can bring this concern and have in place a bylaw. In case a man wants to marry and the price is too high, we [cultural institution] should have the powers to make him marry his wife. We will also establish the court of chiefs where the parents are advised,” he added.

Subjects seek help
According to Acana, this year alone, two men stormed his palace pleading for his intervention after they were asked exorbitant bride price before they can marry their wives.
Rwot Acana said he will hold discussions with all the clan chiefs in the region to see how they can have the bylaw drafted to help in restoring the culture of “decent” marriage in Acholi.
Whereas payment of dowry is seen as a symbol of appreciation offered by an intending husband aimed at binding a man with his in-law, many leaders in the sub-region currently view it differently due to too much money asked by the bride’s parents.
Payment of bride-price has varied over time and this involves a man offering iron objects, domestic animals, and money.
Early this month during the closing ceremony of the Acholi Cultural festival, the Deputy Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo asked Acholi cultural institution to immediately draft a by-law aimed at abolishing commercialisation of traditional marriages in the sub-region.

Warning
Justice Owiny-Dollo warned that the traditional meaning of marriage in Acholi has lost value due to a ‘viral’ trend in which currently a man is invoiced heavily by his in-laws-to-be before being offered the woman.
“An Acholi would not say that only a rich man should marry his daughter but it was upon the girl to make her decision on who she wanted to marry provided the man was from a good background.
“At that time, there was no invoice issued at introduction as it is the rule currently,” Justice Owiny-Dollo said.

Plan on standard charges

The Acholi Cultural Institution prime minister, Mr Ambrose Ola when contacted in a telephone interview, said they are working hard on developing standard codes at marriage that define what is demanded within the cultural norms.
“What we now see is show-off at marriage because it is looked at as a source of wealth and one of the negative sights common in Acholi now is people invoicing the family of the man. This is very uncultured and embarrassing since it has killed its values and meaning,” Mr Ola said.