(4) Women shall have the right to equal treatment with men and that right shall include equal opportunities in political, economic and social activities. (5)…….. (6) Laws, cultures, customs and traditions which are against the dignity, welfare, or interest of women or which undermine their status, are prohibited by this Constitution.” Chapter 4 of the Constitution deals with protection and promotion of fundamental rights and freedoms. One of the rights and freedoms which are protected under this chapter in Article 37 is a right to belong to, enjoy, practice, profess, maintain and promote any culture, cultural institution, language creed or religion in community with others. This means as I understand it that the enjoyment and promotion of culture is done in community with others. The enjoyment is community based. The rules and regulations governing cultural practices are unwritten. Each community uses its own rules. The rules in question have intrinsic value and significance for the community concerned. That being the case it is quite difficult to determine the extent that these cultural rules regarding the practice of paying ‘bride price’ violate the rights under the articles cited by the petitioners. Article 33(6) which prohibited laws, cultures or traditions which are against the dignity, welfare or interest of women did not spell out which laws and cultural practices are. The Constitution did not mandate Parliament to make a law to operationalise the provisions of the article. The affidavits which were deponed on behalf of the petitioners were largely from one area of Tororo where the first petitioner has been carrying on some work for women as Non Government Organization. Some stated the communities they belong to and some did not. They also did not state that men and women who intend to marry are forced to contract customary marriage. Customary marriage is one of the types of marriages recognized in this Country. The complaint raised by the petititioners that cultural practice of the bride’s parents demanding payment of bride price from prospective son in-law interferes with the right to free consent of the parties who intend to marry. I do not agree. When parties choose the type of marriage they want to contract they cannot be said not to have freely consented to marry. Every type of marriage in Uganda has its legal or cultural requirements. If a person chooses to contract a customary marriage is bound to observe the customs and rites of the given community into which he or she intends to marry. There were other allegations that parents have been getting their daughters out of School to marry them off and correct bride price. A case in point is the affidavit of Awor Deborah. In her affidavit she stated that her daughter who was about to sit her Primary Leaving Examination disappeared from home without her knowledge. Later her husband told her that he searched for her and found her in a certain place where they gave him Ug Shs 95,000/= with three cows and three goats. The husband later told her that the girl was married. The matter was reported to the authorities and efforts to prosecute him were futile. I consider this case to one of those in which parents neglect their parental duties and machinery to enforce the law is weak. Article 34 of the Constitution spells out the right of children and the responsibility of parents especially in the provision of education. The state machinery should have swung in action to have the culprit 22