The declaration by the State Minister for Gender and Culture, Ms Peace Mutuuzo, to start a campaign against paying of bride price has attracted mixed reactions, especially from locals and cultural leaders.
Ms Mutuuzo, while giving her remarks during the Cultural Day celebrations at Kween District headquarters, Sebei Sub-region at the weekend, said paying bride price is one of the bad practices that infringe on the rights of women.
“I am starting a campaign against paying dowry (bride price) and I encourage everyone to join me because it works for everyone,” she said.
A bride price custom requires a groom’s family to give a woman’s family cows, gifts, money or any other material goods in exchange for a wife.
Ms Mutuuzo blamed the increasing cases of domestic violence in the country and particularly in Sebei Sub-region on paying off bride price, which she said turns women into bought items and leaves them at the whims of their husband.
“All negative practices, more so bride price and female genital mutilation (FGM) should be kicked out of our societies, not only in Sebei Sub-region but even elsewhere in our communities where such women are subjected to such bad practices,” she said.
Rights groups have for long argued that paying bride price violates Uganda’s constitution, which guarantees women protection from traditions, laws, cultures, and customs that undermine gender equality.
However, Mr John Cherotwo, an elder in Kaproron Sub-county, Kween District, accused the minister of undermining their culture in favour of harmful foreign ones.
“In our culture, a woman is never yours until you have paid dowry [bride price]. It is a certificate of ownership. Therefore, it is a sign that she is your wife and not for another man. These government people want us to live like animals,” he said.
Mr Micheal Chelimo, another elder and a parent of six girls, said the minister should instead launch campaigns against bad Western cultural practices.
“The minister is going to start a war she will not win. Let her concentrate on important issues like fighting poverty,” he said.
However, Ms Rose Chemutai, an FGM activist in Kween District, said bride price leaves women vulnerable in a household.
“It should be fought because it leaves us more vulnerable to physical abuse and it limits our self-determination,” she said.
Source: Monitor