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Tororo Woman MP Sarah Achieng Opendi has made a last-ditch appeal to her female counterparts in the civic space to support the Marriage Bill, which will soon be tabled in Parliament. 

She echoed this while speaking at the launch of Women’s Lobby Day on Monday, November 13. 

The inaugural celebration launched under the mantra ‘Act with others rather than alone; Power of numbers’ is part of a larger project implemented by Akina Mama wa Afrika (AMwA) under the Power Dialogue Program. 

The latter is funded by the Netherlands’ foreign affairs ministry through a grant agreement with the Netherlands Institute for Multi-Party Democracy (NIMD). 

At the core, Women’s Lobby Day is a pivotal event designed to bring to the forefront issues surrounding gender equality and social inclusion in Uganda. 

These, specifically are economic justice, climate burden, sex and reproductive health rights and political participation. 

Nikah 

She pointed out that saboteurs of late have been inciting people that online nikah (weddings) though they are considered valid in Islam, are not recognised by the Bill and that if it ever gets to see the light of the day, such arrangements will be nullified. 

Sarah Opendi, Tororo woman MP (L) chats with Babirye Lilliane (R), Executive Director Network of Women in Politics (NOWIP), and Harriet Nakwedde from Kayunga. This was during the launch of the Women's Lobby Day at Parliament on November 13, 2023. (All Photos by Miriam Namutebi)

“It is my humble appeal to you to support this Bill. I don’t want to hear voices of women fighting this Bill from outside tomorrow when we lay it on the floor of the House. I have already heard some of these voices. Some of the contentious issues I hear came from the Muslim sisters who said for them these days, you can actually be married off even without the man being present for as long as the family has agreed to that relationship,” Opendi implored. 

“It is not our imposition that somebody is now trying to incite people that these marriages cannot be accepted. It is not our view; it came from our Muslim sisters. The man has gone to Saudi Arabia to work, he needs to have a wife back home. This girl might be given off to somebody else, so what does he do? He can’t come back because he is committed there on contract, so what happens is that they arrange a marriage with a family,” she further explained. 

As the mover of the Bill, Opendi, who also doubles as the chairperson of the Uganda Women Parliamentary Association (UWOPA), intimated that her main priority is protecting and not wrecking marriages as alleged. 

“Let us accept that for a long time since independence, the first Parliament since Hon. Rhoda Kalema attempted to amend the Bill. This time, we have moved cautiously, taking care of the fact that men are the majority in Parliament, we must be cognizant of that fact and see how to see how as much as possible to accommodate certain views that will help us sail through. We can amend the Bill later but let us know that as women we are supposed to be wives to these men,” she begged. 

“The 1905 Marriage Act and 1906 Divorce Act were laws that were left by our colonial masters over 100 years. So please understand where we are coming from in having this piece of legislation. Because as you are talking about rights of women, some of the women’s rights are abused and because there is no legislation it is now up to the woman to see how to handle the problem,” Opendi elaborated. 

Suffice to note, that the Marriage Bill at the core seeks to clip cohabitation to impose a time frame on cohabitation after which this will translate into automatic marriage. 

This has riled a number of male legislators including James Kaberuka (Kinkiizi West, NRM) who in an earlier interview predicted that the Bill would die on arrival.  

“The issue of cohabiting and marriage are catered for in the laws of Uganda, I wouldn’t see anything that would really warrant Parliament again to go into those issues because those issues came in 2013, they were calling it Marriage and Divorce Bill and it collapsed. And I think Hon. Sarah Opendi is going to collapse with her Bill. Because even women who know the society and the importance of men will have to avoid that law,” Kaberuka reasoned. 

Participants take a selfie after the launch of the Women's lobby day at Parliament on November 13, 2023.

Legal Abortion 

During the engagement which was held at Parliament, lawmakers under the UWOPA umbrella and activist Allen Nalusiba, split hairs on legalising safe and legal abortion procedures for women with complications. 

“It remains a contentious issue and this is why to me rather than advocate for abortion, it is very important to reach out to the girls, those who are sexually active, to know that once they engage, they will actually be pregnant and the Government has endeavoured to provide contraceptives which are widely available in all Health Centre III countrywide,” she reasoned. 

“On this lobby today, we are dedicated to advocate for the comprehensive, sexual and reproductive rights quality sex education, family planning, maternal health and the autonomy to make decisions about one’s own body. This includes advocating for safe and legal abortion in accordance with the law in Uganda. Teenage pregnancies shot up during the Covid-19 pandemic, we all know this especially our Women MPs,” Nalusiba had submitted. 

A total of 354,736 teenage pregnancies were registered in 2020 and 196,499 in the first six months of 2021, according to the Uganda National Population Fund (UNFPA). 

Reacting on the matter, Phyllis Chemutai (Kapchorwa Woman, NRM) condemned the whole narrative. 

“Does it mean that you want to open up abortion clinics where girls are allowed to go and do abortion openly? I don’t think that is right for us who are Christians, even in the bible, especially the Catholic Church. Personally, I will never accept any issue to do with abortion…whether raped or not, as long as the child is there, it is God who gives a chance to life,” Chemutai rebuked.