Bride price fate awaits Supreme Court verdict

Sep 17, 2014

THE fate of Bride Price awaits a Supreme Court verdict after the parties for and against its existence, made their concluding submissions at the court

By Andante Okanya 

 

THE fate of Bride Price awaits a Supreme Court verdict after the parties for and against its existence, made their concluding submissions at the court.

 

On Tuesday, the court with a panel of seven Justices, convened for a session in Kampala. Women’s rights lobby group Mifumi is seeking a court declaration that the demand for payment of bride price as a precondition for customary marriage is unconstitutional.

 

Making a summary of his client’s grievance, lawyer Ladislaus Rwakafuuzi, noted that they “do not seek for the total abolition of payment of bride price to intended in-laws but to make it optional and  that it should not be a pre-condition for customary marriage.”

 

Justice Bart Katureebe led the panel. Other Justices were Benjamin Odoki, Galdino Okello, Wilson Tsekooko, Jotham Tumwesigye, Esther Kisaakye, and Christine Kitumba.

 

The appeal is on the prompting of the March 26, 2010 Constitutional Court decision, that upheld payment of bride price.

 

The Constitutional Court ruled that the activists failed to adduce scientific evidence to prove the connection between bride price and domestic violence.

 

On Tuesday, Rwakafuuzi submitted that some tribes and cultures in the country, act unconstitutionally by making it a pre-requisite for particular gifts or price to be paid for their daughters.

 

The activists claim bride price does not promote inequality in marriage, contravening Article 21 of Uganda’s Constitution.

 

But the Government’s chief legal advisor the Attorney General (AG) Peter Nyombi, represented by state attorney Imelda Adong, opines that alternatives are available.

 

Adong stated that those who do not want to pay bride price have the option of using other means instead of customary marriage that demands payment of bride price.

 

Lawyer Sarah Naigaga, who represented the AG’s co-respondent Kenneth Kakuru (currently a Justice of the Court of Appeal), concurred with Adong.

 

The respondents also insist that the term “bride price” meaning differs in context among various cultures of Uganda. 

 

Accordingly, Katurebee said informed the parties that a pronouncement would be made at a later date. He said the parties would be notified. 

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