Women MPs, CSOs want Marriage Bill enacted into law

PIC: Bichetero speaking during the meeting with CSOs at Parlaiment. (Credit: Jeff Andrew Lule)

MARRIAGE BILL

PARLIAMENT- Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and women Members of Parliament have called on Parliament to expeditiously pass the Marriage Bill into law.

They argue that the law is long overdue yet it is needed to address challenges in marriages.

This was during a meeting between Uganda Women Parliamentary Association (UWOPA) and CSOs to discuss the progress of the Bill and agree on the way forward. 

The chairperson of UWOPA round table on Marriage Bill, Veronica Bichetero, said the Bill has been on the shelves for a long time since 2013.

"We intend to meet the Speaker to see how she can help us. I think it is a high time we made a conclusion of it. You can imagine the document was bigger and we have taken out domestic relations, successions among others and we are remaining with another small bit," she noted.

She said marriage is an institution like others, which must be regulated. 

"This particular institution of marriage involves our emotions, love, care and our very human being. In marriage, you get married to a person not related to you; so you start building a relationship from scratch with other people and children also come in and other in-laws. It is something we need to regulate immediately we get married," she added. 

Bichetero, also the Kaberamaido MP, explained that the law is aimed at defining each one's responsibility and obligation in marriage.

"What is our joint responsibility when we have children and later grandchildren as grandparents? We want to know what to do if the love between the two starts reducing like on the issue of separation and staying in marriage. There is time when marriage cannot be saved and we need to know what can be done when divorce issues come up," she added.

The chairperson Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights, Jovia Kamateeka, said whatever happens in a home affects children.

"We all know that whatever affects to a couple in a home affects the children. We should sensitise people so that by the time the Bill comes out, it is not new to people," she noted.

The executive director of Joy for Children, Moses Ntenga, said the law is important to protect the rights of children.

"We want men to support this law because it protects children. We are interested in this Bill in line with our work of ending child marriage. We think this this Bill, if passed into law, will help to end child marriage which has become a big problem," he added.