Speaker Kadaga retrieves the marriage and divorce bill
Rebecca Kadaga the Speaker of Parliament has retrieved the long stalled Marriage and Divorce Bill and argued MPs to expeditiously handle it in this parliaments second session.
The tenth parliament session started 6th June when Museveni delivered the State of the Nation Address.
While delivering her communication to the House yesterday after a two-week recess, Kadaga listed three bills that have stalled describing them as an albatross on MPs’ heads.
Among the stalled bills named by the Speaker is the controversial Marriage and Divorce Bill which in its various repetitions has been waiting for parliamentary approval for almost 50 years.
With only a mention of the bill by Kadaga, MPs responded with a lot of excitement halting the Speaker’s communication for minutes. This promoted Kadaga to urge legislators allow a debate on the bill so that it is concluded.
The Marriage and Divorce Bill, 2009 seeks to prohibit widow inheritance (the practice of marrying off a widow to her deceased husband’s relative), grants certain rights to cohabiting couples, and equalises prejudiced divorce provisions which granted absolute rights to men.
Although it would be an important step forward for women’s rights in marriage, many provisions of the bill remain controversial and have as such faced enormous resistance over the years.
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