Uganda's Parliament to re-examine polygamy
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Sissie and Benna
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April 5, 1998
Web posted at: 4:22 p.m. EDT (2022 GMT)
From Correspondent Catherine Bond
KAMPALA, Uganda (CNN) -- Sissie Nanyomba and Benna Nakato
married the same man in the same month of the same year. "He
showed his love to both of us," they explained together. "So
we both decided to marry him."
They say their marriage was happy and their husband, kind.
But when their husband died last year, his sister claimed the
house where they had lived. Now they're seeking legal aid to
get the house back.
A wife's right to inherit her husband's chattels is one key
issue Uganda's Parliament will soon debate. Another is
polygamy itself.
Benna and Sissie both have 6-year-old sons. Their daughters
are 3 and 4. To make life simpler, they think polygamy
should be banned. That way, if a man has just one wife and
dies after she bears him children, the property will go to
the widow's children as a matter of course.
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Sentongo
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Not all agree with their stand. In particular, members of
Uganda's Muslim majority are up in arms at the mere idea of a
ban on polygamy -- even though such a ban is unlikely.
"If you tell me that I'm not allowed to marry a second wife,
but you allow me to have a prostitute, to have a concubine,
to have a girlfriend, that would be restricting my civil
liberty," said Sam Sentongo, an Imam at Makerere University.
Detractors say there is no need for legislation on polygamy.
The Koran has its own rules about it.
Marriage laws date to turn of century
The government says reform is needed to bring marriage laws
up to date.
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Ovongi-Odida
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"Most of these laws date back to 1904, 1916 and so on," said
Irene Ovongi-Odida of the Uganda Law Reform Commission. "We
haven't had substantive reform over the years, although
there's been a great push for it from various interest groups
such as women in the society."
The commission has looked at more than 1,000 marriages. They
found that polygamy wasn't as common as previously thought.
In more than a quarter, men had two wives. But a number of
marriages that legally could be polygamous -- for example,
customary marriages and Islamic marriages -- are not,
Ovongi-Odida said.
The commission's research was borne out anecdotally by one of
its chief opponents, Sentongo, who acknowledges that he has
been happily married to the same woman for 11 years.
"As a matter of principle, I believe in polygamy," he said.
"But the actual implementation depends upon circumstances."
Some blame polygamy for economic woes
As a gesture of appeasement, the commission may drop a
proposal to reduce the number of wives legally allowed, from
four to two.
But draft legislation will make it difficult in the future
for a man to marry more than one woman at a time. Polygamy
is said to retard socioeconomic development, which is why
Uganda, so desperate to get ahead, wants to phase it out.
Sissie and Benna say they have seen the negative effect of
polygamy themselves. Despite sharing the same man, they say
they are still friends. But Sissie's father's three wives
quarrel all the time.
"Their problem is jealousy," Sissie said. "Each wants the
husband to herself."
Now, the co-wives say, their priorities include getting their
house back and educating their children. Another man in
their life is the last thing they want: They know all the
problems that could come of a new romantic entanglement, they
say -- especially with AIDS around.