Women activists to petition Parliament over Marriage Bill

Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga. Women want to petition Parliament over the Marriage Bill

MARRIAGE BILL|PARLIAMENT

Women activists under Women and Rural Development Network (WORUDET) have kicked off a countrywide drive of gathering signatures to petition Parliament to discuss and pass into law the Marriage Bill 2017.

According to Laureen Karayi  Nabimanya, the programme co-ordinator of  Women's Right and Access to Justice, many people in the country had been misinformed about the Bill and ended up opposing it.

"Previously we had issues with the religious and cultural leaders on the cohabitation clause, but after its removal, we now have their support," she said in an interview.

She told editors and senior reporters at an orientation meeting in Kitgum district that the Bill, if passed into law, would promote gender equality, peace in homes and make marriages safe for both women and men.

"This is not civil society Bill as some people think. It is a government Bill under the justice ministry," she said adding that the Bill is expected to come up for debate in Parliament between now and May next year.

The Marriage Bill 2017 seeks to reform and consolidate the law relating to marriages, provide for the type of recognised marriages, marital rights and duties, separation and divorce and other issues connected to marriage.