The Deputy Attorney General, Hon Mwesigwa Rukutana, has advised couples previously married in ungazetted churches to renew their vows.
Last week, the Uganda Registration Services Bureau-URSB announced that nearly 1,000 couples whose marriages were conducted at the Church, under the Kampala Diocese of the Anglican Church between 2006 and 2016 were illegal because the Church had not been officially gazzetted to administer the ceremonies.
Rukutana said that the registrar of marriages is the only office mandated to legalise marriages in the country.
“Prayer houses are licensed to conduct and register marriages on behalf of the registrar. The affected couples should repeat their vows before the registrar of marriages,” he said adding that, “those intending to get married should be prudent enough to find out if the prayer houses where the ceremony is to take place is licensed or not”.
According to the Marriage Act, a couple can only be recognized as married after carrying out a marriage ceremony in licensed places and gazzetted institutions, and register their marriage certificates. This applies to all customary, Mohammedan or Muslim, Church and Civil marriages.
Rukutana was responding to a concern raised by Hon. Betty Nambooze (FDC, Mukono Municipality) on Thursday, 29 August 2019 during a sitting of Parliament chaired by Deputy Speaker Jacob Oulanyah.
Nambooze advised that the government reverses the decision. She argues that it’s not tenable to nullify a wedding for a mistake that the couples knew nothing about. She says that the decision needs to be reconsidered adding that some men could take advantage of the loophole to leave their “wives”, yet marriage institutions need to be protected and supported.
“The marriages that took place at the Church of the Resurrection in Bugolobi were carried out before this place of worship was gazetted rendering them null and void,” she said.
Nambooze added that if the marriages are nullified then this would bring problems to the children in terms of inheritance.
“If these marriages are cancelled then the children will have problems especially with inheritances where a spouse has passed on,” Nambooze said.
However, Rukutana says that the only remedy is for the couples to repeat the marriage ceremonies because not all religious functions are necessarily legal. He advises the affected couples to repeat the ceremonies at licensed religious institutions or at the office of the Registrar of Marriages.
Rukutana downplays arguments that the decision will have lasting impacts on families that have lost their spouses and inheritance, arguing that naturally, marriage is terminated with death while children are all entitled to inheritance whether they are legitimate or not.
