You can’t divorce before end of one year, Marriage Bill proposes

A spouse willing to divorce a partner can only do after a year, according to proposals of the Marriage Bill (2022), which seek to introduce reforms and consolidate the laws relating to marriage and separation of property.

The Bill was introduced by Tororo Woman Member of Parliament (MP) Sarah Opendi, who was granted leave by the House to review it and come up with a law that affects all recognised marriages in Uganda, including Christian, Islam, Hindu and Bahai, among others.

“Marriages take place in communities but most of them are not registered. We want to have formal registration of all marriages; the Bill intends to create order in society and also ensure that marriages take place in an organised way,” she said in an earlier interview.

 It is now being suggested that one can’t divorce within one year, among a raft of proposals, according to parliament legal director Susan Katono.

“The Bill wants to make it hard to enter and get out (of marriage); the Bill is strengthening marriage,” she told a regional lobby and consultative meetings at Busoga Lukiiko (parliament) in Jinja City on Friday.

Katono said wider consultations didn’t find justification why a district marriage in Uganda should be monogamous.

The proposal, therefore, she says, is for civil marriages to be polygamous.

“It was realised that civil marriages are a creation of colonial masters who don’t believe in polygamy up to now, and that is why when you fill out forms, there is no space for two wives, but one,” she added.

On conducting marriage, other proposals include that both parties must be physically present- and not a case of one marrying a picture or frame, according to Katono.

“What we recognise is people go abroad to work and want to get married. This (proposal) was given to us by Muslims; so, you can do a Nikah online (video call). The law is being flexible,” she explained.

She further noted that the law restricted marriages to churches with cement, but the law appreciates that God is not only in the Church building and wants it to be conducted anywhere, even home.

However, they are making sure that the one performing the marriage must be licensed by government to sign the certificate.

DNA and offences

According to Katono, another proposal calls for Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) tests to be subject to a court order, while return of marriage gifts is illegal and will carry a fine of five currency points or imprisonment not exceeding three years, or both.

Justification of marriage or a person who falsely claims or asserts to be married to a particular person, and holds out as though married, including holding hands, living together, bearing children, and taking on the man’s name, are all offences.

Other offences, among others, include breach of promise to marry, whose promise has to have been made expressly or by conduct.

The meeting drew cultural leaders from Busoga Kingdom, local leaders, civil society organisations (CSOs), media and Girls and Young Women (GYW) from the sub-region, to capture their voices about the Marriage Bill.

The meeting was organised by The She Leads consortium, in partnership with Uganda Women’s Parliamentary Association (UWOPA).

Butembe chiefdom Deputy Speaker Deborah Mutesi Magezi said the Bill should put in place safeguards to protect spouses from manipulation by “inactive partners.”

“Some men appear hardworking, very supportive and humble to the public, yet they aren’t,” while some men marry hardworking women who are making money and start development projects that will be taken as matrimonial property,” she told Monitor in an interview on Saturday.

Mutesi further warned that the Bill would make spouses more vulnerable, and susceptible to domestic violence, citing a case where property which was once owned by one partner becomes matrimonial property.

WIPE Uganda is a Jinja City-based female-led organisation that fights for the rights of girls and women in Busoga sub-region. 

“In our culture, it is the men who suggest marriage, but what if a woman wants to walk out of it and owns all the property yet the man is not ready to separate, has many children and has not been making any savings?” she asked.

Katono had earlier hinted that most of the suggestions have come from societal groups. 

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