Members of the Uganda Women Parliamentary Association (UWOPA) and other women rights activists have appealed to President Yoweri Museveni to assent to the Succession (Amendment) Bill, 2018.

The executive director Centre For Domestic Violence Prevention (CEDOVIP) Tina Musuya called upon President Museveni to assent to the Bill as it is in line with Uganda's commitment to international, regional and national laws more specifically Chapter four articles 21, 26 and 33 of the Constitution.

Musuya said they believe that when the Bill is assented to, the lives of women and girls especially at the local level shall be improved and protected since they will be able to seek justice in case of unlawful eviction from their homes.

“We call upon the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs to expedite development of the Statutory Instrument that affects implementation of the law,” Musuya said during a media briefing at the Fairway Hotel in Kampala on Wednesday.

(L-R ) Pamela Kamugu Chairperson (UWUPA) Berna Bakkidde Director Land Net Uganda,Tina Musuya Executive Director Center for Domestic Violence Prevention (CEDOVIP) Monica Amoding ,Dorothy Azairwe and Lucy Akello Women MP Amuru district during a press conference at Fairway Hotel on Tuesday March, 31 2021.

The secretary-general UWOPA and Amuru District Woman MP, Lucy Akello, said several studies established various challenges with the law and practices of succession that had never been addressed in current laws on succession.

Akello said the Bill, which was passed by Parliament early this month, has proposals like the removal of any references to illegitimate children since all children are equal before the law and have rights of succession to parent’s property.

“This is one of the new provisions of the law in which the residential property of the deceased will not be given to anybody rather than the immediate family,” Akello said.

Others are devolution of the residential property to the spouse and lineal descendants, creation of offences against a person who evicts or attempts to evict lawful occupants of residential holdings.

Another proposal in the Bill is that guardianship will be automatically terminated upon the death of  a child or death of the guardian or upon the child turning 18 years.