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 members fromthe parliament took place on 28^th /03/2013.

 The one day meeting organized in two places that is inNtara sub countyheadquarters and kamwenge town council in the catholic social hall attracted numerous citizens 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 honourable MP's Dorothy and Flavia

 

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 .

 

One of the Residents Mr. Buswera kakwenzire a 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.

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 kashaizasaid 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.

kyegeggwa woman mp flavia rwabuhoro

She was accompanied by the Kyegegwa Woman MP FlaviaKabehendaRwabuhorowho 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.