By Vision Reporters

THE Cabinet is to meet over the recent scrapping of the law on adultery by the Constitutional Court. Speaking on Hoima FM on Saturday, the Minister for Public Service, Henry Kajura, said the ministers were to discuss its implications on public order.

“We have read about this ruling in the newspapers and picked a lot of interest. As a Cabinet, we are going to meet soon to study that ruling and find out whether it is capable of causing problems among the people,” Kajura said.

“Personally, I am opposed to the ruling because adultery leads to breakage of marriages,” he added.

Last week, the Constitutional Court ruled that adultery was no longer a criminal offence. It said Section 154 of the Penal Code Act, which criminalised adultery, was unconstitutional because it treated men and women differently.

The court also nullified several sections of the Succession Act, which dealt with property for widows, guardianship of children and domicile upon marriage.
The judges said the laws treated women as second-class citizens and were therefore inconsistent with the Constitution.

Kajura’s remarks were prompted by several callers who expressed concern over the implications of the ruling. Some said it would give a leeway to men, especially the well off, to make sexual advances on married women. Others expressed fears that the scrapping of the adultery law would escalate the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The Catholic Church has joined the Anglican Church in condemning the scrapping of the law.

Kampala Archbishop Cyprian Kizito Lwanga advised the Government to change and strength the law instead of nullifying it, so that the institution of marriage is protected.

“Rumours say some people are preparing to implement their evil plans, while others are sharpening their pangas to fight back in retaliation,” he said in his Easter sermon.

His counterpart in Gulu, John Baptist Odama, insisted that adultery is a serious sin which violates one of God’s Ten Commandments. “If the law is legalising adultery, where is Uganda heading to?” he asked.

Quoting the Bible, Odama said: “Whoever divorces his wife and marries someone else, commits adultery against her. And if a woman divorces her husband and remarries, she commits adultery.”

The Speaker of Parliament, Edward Ssekandi, said he was waiting for the Minister of Justice, Kiddhu Makubuya, to present the amendments to Parliament for debate.