contend that a bride price, thus contravenes Article 21, which provides for equality and freedom
from discrimination (“All persons are equal before and under the law in all spheres
of…economic, social and cultural life and in every other respect shall enjoy the equal
protection of the law.”)
Petitioners, further, argue that the practice of “bride rice” “leads men to treat their women as
mere possessions from whom maximum obedience is extracted…” Under such a custom, the
wife is not an equal in the realm of marriage vis-à-vis the husband, but rather she is simply a
piece of his property.
1.
marriage
Bride Price thwarts one’s Constitutionalright to freely consent to enter into
Petitioners argue that the demand for and payment of bride price and dowry as a condition
precedent to a customary marriage violates Article 31(3) of the Constitution, which states that:
“marriage shall be entered into with the free consent of the man and woman intending to
marry.” Affidavits supplied by the petitioners illustrate the frequency with which the bride price
is used either to force a woman to enter into a marriage against her consent, or to bar a man from
entering into a marriage relationship. Additionally, a bride price or dowry may force a couple to
cohabit due to not being able to raise funds sufficient to meet the obligation.
2.
The cultural practice of bride price offends the Constitutional right to one’s
human dignity
The Constitution provides that “laws, cultures, customs or traditions which are against the
dignity, welfare, or interest of women or which undermine their status, are prohibited by
this Constitution.” Art. 33(6). Additionally, Article 24 provides for “respect for human
dignity and protection from inhuman treatment.”
Accordingly, no person shall be subjected to “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment.” Art. 24. Petitioners state that, both the demand for a bride price and the demand
for a refund of the bride price, amount to the buying and selling of a bride as an item for sale in a
market. Such “haggling and pricing of young girls and women like commodities” is argued
to be an affront to human dignity. (See Affidavit of Fr. Lawrence Ssendegeya, 3.)
Furthermore, according to the petitioners’ affidavits, the use of bride price leads to social ills
such as fathers forcing daughters to get married simply to collect a bride price and young women
being removed from schools and forced into early marriages. Uneducated women may even
fetch a higher bride price, or dowry, due to the assumption that women in a school setting are
less likely to be undefiled.
Moreover, petitioners note that bride price can even lead to inhuman and degrading treatment of
corpses. In her affidavit, Felicity Atuki Turner notes that she has come across several cases
where a wife’s corpse has been denied burial pending the refund of the applicable bride price to
the husband.
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