Sarah Opendi Wants Jail Term for People Who Demand Refund of Marriage Gift
This bill seeks to provide a comprehensive legislation on matters relating to marriage, considering that the current Marriage Act has been in place for 118 years.
Tororo Woman MP Sarah Opendi has presented to Parliament the controversial Marriage Bill 2024, which seeks to reform and consolidate marriage laws of the country.
This bill seeks to provide a comprehensive legislation on matters relating to marriage, considering that the current Marriage Act has been in place for 118 years.
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According to the bill's mover, the proposed legislation will address various aspects of marriage, including:
- Recognized Marriages. Providing clarity on recognized marriages in Uganda
- Registration of Marriage. Streamlining the marriage registration process
- Marital Rights and Obligations. Defining the rights and responsibilities of spouses
- Conversion of Marriage. Allowing for conversion from one form of marriage to another
- Property Rights. Addressing property ownership and distribution.
- Separation and Dissolution of Marriage. Providing guidelines for separation and divorce
Ms Opendi has proposed for the establishment of a National Marriage Register that will store details about all married people in Uganda and this can be accessed by anyone upon paying a prescribed fee to the government.
Clause 36 (l) stipulates; “There is established a National Mariage Register, which may be maintained as an electronic database or in any other form.
It adds that a person whose details have been entered in the National Marriage Register, may at any given time, notify the Registrar General of any change or error in the information recorded about that person in the register”.
Ms Opendi has no patience for people who demand refund of marriage gifts. In Clause 87 of the Marriage Bill, she says where a marriage gift has been given by a party to a marriage under the Act, it is an offence to demand for the return of the same.
"A person who demands for the return of a marriage gift is liable, upon conviction to a fine not exceeding five hundred currency points (Shs10m) or imprisonment not exceeding three years or both," she said.
"A court may award damages to an aggrieved party."
Ms Opendi is also seeking to impose a six-month ultimatum within which newly married couples are required to have sex and consummate their marriages, or risk having their union declared invalid.
Her proposal is contained in The Marriage Bill 2024 that was tabled today, in which Opendi lays grounds upon which a marriage can be declared a voidable marriage.
The Tororo District Woman MP is also seeking to criminalise child marriages and has recommended a 10-year jail term for anyone who prepares, attends, conducts a marriage ceremony with a minor, or marries anyone below 18 years.
In Clause 101(1) she proposes that a person who conducts, presides over or witnesses a purported marriage involving a child, commits an offence and is liable, on conviction, to imprisonment for ten years.
The clause also seeks the same punishment for a person who marries a child in a formal or informal ceremony of marriage with or without the consent of a parent or guardian of the child.
It also includes knowingly attends or participates in the preparation of a purported marriage involving a child, or one who involves a child in formal or informal marital rites or initiation practices.
Ms Opendi has proposed in Clause 92 of Bill a jail term of five years and fine of Shs10m to be imposed on anyone who knowingly contracts with a married person, who is already married in a monogamous form of marriage.
“A person who knowingly undergoes a ceremony of marriage, with another person in a subsisting monogamous marriage, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding five hundred currency points (Shs10M) or imprisonment not exceeding five years or both,” she told Parliament.
The bill's presentation has sparked interest, given the longstanding need to reform Uganda's marriage laws as noted by UNICEF, the current Marriage Act dates back to 1904.
The bill's progress will be closely watched, especially considering the government's previous requests for more time to carry out consultations
