10 September 2008
editorial
A clause in the Domestic Relations Bill that made it mandatory for families to refund dowry in case marriage arrangements went awry has been scrapped.
Judges on the Uganda Law Commission resolved, after evaluating views collected from the public in Jinja, that because of the rampant mistreatment of women, it is better for such an obligation to be nullified.
Many women have long had to endure brutalities inflicted upon them by their husbands for a long time and many of them have been forced to stay in abusive relationships because their parents cannot refund the dowry paid for their daughters.
In a strongly paternalistic society which often gives males unfair power and advantage over females, scrapping the need to refund dowry in case a marriage breaks down, makes it easier for women to walk out of abusive relationships.
The move is, therefore, a step in the right direction. However, the same cannot be said for the proposal to force any married couple to spend at least two years together before they can get divorced. While this proposal is presumably done with good intentions, forcing a couple to stay together when the fire is gone from their relationship might just be a recipe for disaster.
The overall intention of the Bill is to ensure equal rights within homes for male and female spouses and ensure that the rights of the vulnerable partners, usually women, are protected. The law can achieve this by ensuring that women have rights to property and can be heard in case of disputes; it must also ensure that women - and men - who find a marriage untenable can easily walk out unscathed.
Hence while scrapping the clause on dowry refunds is a step forward, forcing couples to stay together when they would rather be apart is a step backward. Policy makers should keep it in mind that what they are dealing with is culture, though. Changing a mindset is not as easy as laying down the law from on-high and expecting everything to work like clockwork.
The law should help improve relations but it should not be a tool by which government controls domestic relations. We do not need a nanny state to govern our homes; we need a law that sets equal rights and opportunities and punishes those who seek to take advantage of the weak. The law might not be good enough to make love flourish in our homes - but it should be strong enough to ensure that couples don't make war.
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