MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE BILL CONSULTATIVE MEETING IN KAMWENGE DISTRICT

The meeting which had been organized by Rwenzori consortium for civic competence in partnership with karambi action for life improvement and member’s from the parliament took place on 28^th /03/2013.

 The one day meeting organized in two places that is in Ntara sub county headquarters and kamwenge town council in the catholic social hall attracted over 300 individuals from the neighbouring villages of kicwamba, mahyoro, Nyabani and the local government staffs.whereby

Residents of Kamwenge district who attended the consultative meeting on the Marriage and Divorce Bill asked the members of parliament to remove the clause of marital rape from the bill.

two women MPS  for kamwenge and kyeggegwa from left Dorothy and Flavia responding to peoples reactions

Speaker after speaker during a consultative meeting at Ntara sub-county headquarters by the Kamwenge woman MP Dorothy Kashaiza pointed out that the inclusion of marital rape clause in the bill will cause more cases of domestic violence, she further noted that people are not sensitized on the types of marriages Article 26 of the Ugandan constitution allows every one irrespective of sex to own a property and most people especially women do not know their rights to owning properties.

 

MR Buswera kakwenzire the retired priest presenting his reactions

One of the participants MR Buswera kakwenzire the retired priest  of Ntara Sub county said that marital rape has to be excluded because it will be an advocacy for polygamy as men who will be punished by it will seek to marry other women and abandon their first wives and does not support the refund of bride price..

Majority of the people said that there is nothing called marital rape in their families only that most couples have not been sensitized on the value of conjugal rights.

The residents of Kamwenge also recommended that parliament should abolish the name bride price and replace it with marriage gifts because it has been realized that most parents have taken the marriage of their daughters as business.

YosintaKasembo, the vice Chairperson LC 3 of Ntara sub-county said that with the bride price being paid, the sons of the poor people will not marry the women of their choice because they cannot afford the demands of their in-laws.

The residents also called for the deletion of the cohabitation clause, the issue of Divorce and that widow inheritance should not be regulated by the government.

They also asked the MPs to increase the age of consent to marriage by a man and woman to twenty one years.

Also rejected by the people of Kamwenge is the title of the Bill as they urged that Divorce should not be included adding that it will be the cause of problems because it provides for the contentious issue of sharing property.

The Kamwenge woman MP Dorothy kashaizas aid that parliament will base on the majority recommendations on the different clause because every MP has been in their constituency carrying out consultations on the matter.

 

from left district speaker Hon mp flavia and the LC iii c/man Ntara

She was accompanied by the Kyegegwa Woman MP Flavia Kabehenda Rwabuhoro who said that the church has failed to protect families a reason why the state has come in, their main intention is not to promote divorce but to protect the masses from conflicts therefore calls upon religious leaders to preach against divorce in her words she said; “I have never divorced, never beaten and does not want to divorce at all”.

She therefore asked parents to always express love to their children so that they can be able to settle in their new families.