The move to criminalise marital rape in the Sexual Offences Bill 2019 failed after supporters of the Bill backed off the plans.

Female MPs wanted to criminalise what they termed as marital rape as a way of fighting against domestic violence in Uganda.

The Bill was tabled by Kumi Woman MP Monicah Amoding in 2015. The report of the parliamentary committee on legal affairs has seen the clause among those contentious clauses dropped.

Amoding said the decision to drop the marital rape provision was due to the controversy that the provision generated among the married couples and since it is already being catered for in the Marriage and Divorce Bill.

In November 2019, Amoding introduced a fresh Bill incorporating several changes.

In her earlier Bill, Amoding had proposed that any person who forcefully performs a sexual act on another person, without consent or if the consent is obtained by force or by means of threats or intimidation of any kind or by fear of bodily harm, or by means of false representation as to the nature of the act commits a felony termed as rape and shall, on conviction, be liable to life imprisonment.

However, the Bill faced resistance from the male MPs who shot it down, saying some of the provisions were controversial and untenable, hence bringing a new Bill.

Marital rape was a contentious subject when the Bill was first introduced with opponents of the proposal describing the proposal as intrusive and intended to regulate bedroom affairs between couples.

Objectives of the Bill

The Bill seeks to criminalise sexual offences and prevent domestic violence. It also provides for enhancement of punishment for sexual offenders as it provides for the protection of victims during sexual offences trials.

The Bill further provides for extraterritorial application of the law by repealing some provisions of the Penal Code Act Cap.120.

Amoding justified the Bill as effectual prevention for sexual violence.

“New forms of sexual violence and exploitation have emerged, such as sex tourism, child marriages, non-employment sexual harassment and sexual assault, which need to be catered for by the law,” she submitted.

Clauses 2 to 13 of the Bill create the offences of rape, aggravated rape, administering substance for purpose of committing a sexual act, sexual assault, sexual harassment, detention with sexual intent, sexual exploitation, unnatural offences, attempt to commit unnatural offences, incest and offence to make a false allegation.

Programme co-ordinator of the Uganda Women Parliamentary Association Mary Harriet Lamunu said legislating on morality grounds would water down the spirit of the Bill.

“We agreed to drop this because of the advocacy that we had done, which helped us realise that we can’t legislate on morality and behaviour of adults,” Lamunu noted.

Crime report

According to the 2019 crime report, Police recorded 1,528 cases of rape, compared to 1,580 cases in 2018, representing a 3.2% drop. Of the reported cases, a total of 1,531 were women victims of rape.

In the same year, the Police recorded 13,693 cases of domestic violence, compared to 13,916 in 2018, representing a 1.9% decrease. Police noted that of the 14,232 victims of domestic violence, 2,908 were male adults, while 9,978 were female adults. Of these, 670 were male juveniles, while 676 were female juveniles.