What is in the new Marriage Bill 2024 of Uganda and what does it mean for Marriage in Uganda

On 3rd October 2024 , the Marriage Bill 2024 was tabled in Parliament of Uganda. This Bill aims to bring several landmark reforms to the marriage laws of Uganda, which include among others;

1. Prohibiting co-habitation. The punishment if convicted is a fine of 10m or imprisonment of 3 years. The bill doesn’t criminalize cohabitation perse but purports to criminalize holding out as a married couple by living together and describing yourself as married. This provision is presumably unconstitutional because a person has a right to marry or live with anyone that they please under whatever arrangements they desire. The state interest in promoting regularization of relationships is not weighty enough to override a person’s right to live as he or she pleases and to associate with whomever he or she pleases. The state has other less intrusive means of achieving the state interest. The state can provide financial and tax incentives to promote regularization of domestic relationships.
2. Breaching of promise to marry being punishable. The punishment if convicted is paying back to the other person the expenses they have incurred. This provision is redundant because a promise to marry is already a cause of action under Ugandan law. The expenses incurred as a result of breach of a promise to marry that are reasonably foreseeable are recoverable under current law. These can include value of the engagement ring, payments to suppliers and similar experiences. General damages are recoverable for embarrassment and inconvenience.
3. Requirement to consummate the marriage within 6 months, failure of which the marriage will be declared voidable. This provision is also redundant because under current law unconsummated marriage is voidable at the insistence of the innocent party. Maybe providing for a timeline clarifies the law because current law provides for consummation within a reasonable time. Reasonable time depends on the circumstances of the parties. This provision sets a timeline of six months within which every marriage must be consummated.
4. Making church and civil marriage which are monogamous, potentially polygamous, meaning that those wedded under church will have a right to convert to a polygamous marriage.
5. Prohibiting child marriages. Anyone who conducts, attends or arrange ms a marriage involving a minor will be liable to imprisonment for 10 years
6. Prohibiting divorce before one year on marriage.
7. Prohibiting subjecting children to DNA without a court order. This provision might also be unconstitutional because it grants men less favourable treatment without good cause. The state interest in keeping families together is not weighty enough to justify a law that targets men who are ordinarily the ones in confirming the paternity of children that women allege are theirs. The very high expenses and trauma that men face in rising children that are not theirs create a high threshold for the state to overcome to justify requiring that they must obtain a court order before helping themselves. Court orders are expensive and time consuming to obtain and for this reason the requirement imposes an undue burden on the right of men to rise and be responsible only for children that they have fathered. The requirement of a court order as applied disproportionately burden men more than women without a good justification. It is discriminates Against men.
8. Establishing a National Marriage Register to electronically store details of all married people in Uganda.
9. Giving a spouse an automatic share one third of marital assets. This is a drastic change in marital relationships because under the current regime a spouse’s share in marital assets depends on their respective contributions whether financial or none financial. The provision might be unconstitutional because it doesn’t take into account the parties respective contributions and the length of the marriage. It is likely to cause a lot of pushback from men who already complain that the current regime unfairly favors women who are rewarded for breaking up marriages and for not considering the contribution of the men to the welfare and assets of the women.
10. Definition of Marriage (Clause 2): The Church of Uganda proposes that marriage be defined as a voluntary union between a man and a woman who are biologically and anatomically male and female at birth, to safeguard against potential legal ambiguities arising from gender reassignment and same-sex unions.
11. Minister’s Power to Recognize Other Types of Marriages (Clause 3(g)): The Church recommends the deletion of this clause, as it grants excessive authority to the Minister, potentially allowing unconventional forms of marriage that may undermine Uganda’s cultural and religious values.
12. Legalization of Polygamy in Civil Marriages (Clause 4): Church of Uganda opposes the classification of civil marriages as “potentially polygamous” and recommends that civil marriages remain monogamous to maintain consistency and avoid societal confusion.
13. Definition of Christian Marriage (Clause 5(b)): The Church suggests amending the clause to read: “Contracted between one man and one woman for life, to the exclusion of others, in accordance with biblical teachings.”
14. Designation of Celebrants (Clause 32(1) & 32(9)): The Church proposes replacing the term “celebrant” with “Church Priest” to ensure that only licensed clergy officiate marriages in places of worship. Additionally, the discretion of the Registrar to appoint officiants should be removed to prevent unauthorized persons from solemnizing marriages.
15. Non-Registration of Marriages (Clause 38): The Church recommends deleting this provision to encourage the registration of all marriages and ensure legal recognition.
16. Conversion of Marriages (Clause 39): The Church strongly opposes allowing the conversion of monogamous marriages into polygamous unions, as this undermines Christian marriage principles. The provision should be revised to prohibit such conversions.
17. Voidable Marriages (Clause 41): The Church recommends that “change of sex by a married person” be added as a ground for rendering a marriage voidable.
18. Prenuptial and Postnuptial Agreements (Clause 47): The Church urges the removal of this clause, as it reduces marriage to a transactional arrangement, fostering individualism and materialism rather than unity and trust.
19. Presumption of Marriage (Clause 61): The Church recommends using alternative terminology, such as “recognized co-parenting relationship,” to avoid equating informal relationships with formal marriage.
20. No-Fault Divorce (Clause 74): The Church proposes that the Bill define specific grounds for “irretrievable breakdown of marriage,” including continuous separation, adultery, desertion, and abuse, to prevent the trivialization of marriage and rampant divorce.

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