By Frank Kamuntu
Women rights activists have asked Parliament to discourage polygamy while processing the Marriage Bill, 2024, saying it cannot be projected as the standard of Uganda’s society.
The activists say the proposal within the Bill to classify polygamy under civil marriages, is a way of perpetuating violation of rights of women and children who are often affected by polygamy.
“Polygamy has been documented to be a potential basis for the violation and denial of women’s and children’s rights especially if not well regulated.
The ground work of the coalition that put together the Domestic Relations Bill, identified polygamy as one of the underlying factors for the perpetuation of gender inequality,” said Rose Wakikona, the Deputy Executive Director, Women’s Probono Initiative.
Wakikona said the new law should instead promote monogamy which tends to protect the rights of women and children especially in terms of distribution of property.
Cognizant that there are people who will always prefer polygamy, Wakikona proposed that the Bill should spell out guidelines for one to contract polygamy in a manner that ensures safety of the previous wives and children.
“We advocate for clear rules under which polygamous marriage would be permitted including; consent from the first or previous wives, proof of one’s ability to cater for more than one spouse and separate residences for other wives,” she said.
She made the proposals on behalf of women’s rights organisations and activists before the committees of Legal and Parliamentary Affairs; and Gender, Labour and Social Development, on Wednesday, 05 February 2025.
The activists made contributions to the Marriage Bill, 2024 which seeks to reform, repeal and consolidate the legal framework governing marriage in Uganda.
The group asked MPs to be sensitive to clauses within the Bill that may perpetuate gender inequalities, such as defining polygamy to only imply a man who marries more than one wife.
They proposed that the Bill should broadly define polygamy to include polygyny where a man is married to two or more women and polyandry where a woman is married to two or more men.
Wakikona told the seemingly surprised MPs that societies change so much that issues such as polyandry which is still strange in Africa, might be the norm in the near future.
“Societies change, in the past I could not put on a trouser and I appear before a committee of Parliament. As a girl, I could not be given education but now all that has changed, may be in 10 years women will be allowed to marry more than one man,” she said.
The activists opposed criminalisation of cohabitation as well as the requirement of parental consent for christian marriage.
Their proposal to have men voluntary take on names of their wives as the family name left MPs in amazement as to whether such provisions would lead to chaos in the society.
“If you think you are the bread earner and now you want your husband to take on your name, I really think that is very wrong,” said Hon. Joy Waako (NRM, Older Persons’ Representative).
The Deputy Chairperson of the Committee on Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Hon. John Teira, observed that the law needs to capture other salient issues surrounding marriage that may be overlooked.
“We are talking about polygamy and cohabitation yet there are people who are in monogamous marriages, happily married but they are also running other cohabitation centres,” said Teira.
Bududa District Woman MP, Hon. Agness Nandutu, expressed concern that some of the proposals can potentially attract harsh criticism and thus prolong the processing of the Bill.
“This Bill has been shelved many times; there is no way we can bring in the provision that women should also marry many men as it is culturally wrong. There are things we are to agree and drop in order to have this Bill passed”.
Hon. Noeline Kisembo (NRM, District Woman Representative, Kibaale) said that if the Marriage Bill is to be passed and receive the President’s assent, it should cater for what the society considers as reality and avoid controversy.
“It is not our reality that because men can marry more women, now women should also marry more than one man – this will create confusion which we do not want,” Kisembo said.
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