The petitioners challenge the constitutionality of the customary practice of demand for, and
payment of bride price. They allege that bride price as a condition precedent to a marriage; and a
demand for, and payment of, bride price as a condition precedent to dissolution of marriage
should be declared unconstitutional. They are praying Court for the following declarations: -
“(a) That the custom and practice of demand and payment of bride price as a
condition sine qua non of a valid customary marriage practiced by several tribes in
Uganda, including but not limited to the Japadhola (found in Eastern Uganda) is
unconstitutional, the Langi found in Northern Uganda, and Banyankole found in
Western Uganda is unconstitutional.
(b)That the custom and practice of refund of bride price as a condition sine qua non of a
valid dissolution of a customary marriage practiced by several tribes in Uganda is
unconstitutional, including but not limited to the Japadhola (found in Eastern Uganda), the
Langi found in Northern Uganda, and Banyankole found in Western Uganda is
unconstitutional.
(i)The demand for bride price by parents of the bride from prospective sonsin-law as a condition precedent to a valid customary marriage is contrary to
Art 31 (3) of the Constitution that provides that marriage shall be entered
into with the free consent of the man and a woman intending to marry,
because the demand for bride price makes the consent of the persons who
intend to marry contingent upon the demands of a third party;
(ii)
The payment of bride price by men for their wives as demanded
by custom from several tribes in Uganda leads men to treat their women as
mere possessions from whom maximum obedience is extracted, thus
perpetuating conditions of inequality between men and women, prohibited
by Art. 21(1), (2) Constitution of Uganda, which provides that all persons are
equal before and under the law;
(iii)
(the demand for refund of bride price as a condition precedent to
the dissolution of a customary marriage is contrary to the provisions of Art
31(1) of the Constitution of Uganda in as far as it interferes with the exercise
of the free consent of the parties to a marriage.
(iv)
The demand for bride price by parents of the bride from
prospective sons-in-law in as much as it portrays the woman as an article in a
market for sale amounts to degrading treatment, prohibited by the
Constitution of Uganda in Art 24, which guarantees that every person shall
be treated with dignity.
The petition is supported by many affidavits supplied by the petitioners, including one sworn by
Felicity Atuki Turner, the Managing Director of the first Petitioner.
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