Karooro wants marriage and divorce Bill passed

By Joanita Tushabe

The Minister of Gender, Labour and Social development, Mary Karooro Okurut wants the shelved Marriage and Divorce Bill to be re-tabled in Parliament for debate.

Speaking at the sidelines of a concert to mark the campaign of 16 days of activism to end violence against women, Okurut warned however that getting the Bill passed would not happen unless the players involved reached consensus.

“As government we need to generate consensus on the Bill so that when the time comes it will not meet opposition as it did before” said Okurut.

The Bill which has been in consideration for the past five decades was again shelved last year over a divergence on multiple issues including ownership of property for couples going through divorce and separation in cohabitation cases.

Supporters of the Bill believe it will curtail the violence women experience through practices that make them subordinate to their husbands.

Okurut said, “There is a significant proportion of violence directed to women by relatives, community members, institutions that is undocumented.”

From what is documented as many as 3,426 cases of domestic violence were reported in 2013 as compared to 2793 cases in 2012 giving an increase of 18.4%, according to the 2013 Annual crime and traffic road safety report by Uganda Police.

Francis Ojede, Executive Director of the Uganda National Cultural Centre (UNCC) claimed that the organization would be instrumental in creating the consensus that could facilitate the passing of the Bill and consequently eradicate violence against women.

According to Ojede the main argument within the opposition was that the Bill was a threat to culture.
“As an organization working to protect authentic Ugandan culture, we believe sensitizing people through music, drama, research and debate will pass on the message that the bill and culture can co-exist,” said Ojede.

The concert held at The Uganda National Theatre in Kampala on Monday featured comedian Kenneth Kimuli aka Pablo, with performances from youth dance group under the UNCC youth program, brother duo Under Cover brothers and Canaan Gents, with a panel interview hosted by Joanita Kawalya.

The Minister expressed hope that through working with partners like the UNCC and local and international organizations, they would be able to till the ground in preparation for the Marriage and divorce bill to take root.