{"id":16884,"date":"2021-09-01T16:25:04","date_gmt":"2021-09-01T16:25:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/?p=16884"},"modified":"2021-09-01T14:25:15","modified_gmt":"2021-09-01T14:25:15","slug":"man-fails-to-clear-bride-price-wife-taken-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/man-fails-to-clear-bride-price-wife-taken-away","title":{"rendered":"Man fails to clear bride price, wife taken away"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/\">Africa-Press<\/a> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\">Uganda<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>29-year-old businessman Laban Sabiti was left stranded with five children, including a breastfeeding 13-month old toddler.<\/p>\n<p>The remarkable case of a bride price defaulter whose partner was recently taken away from him has highlighted what experts are calling the commercialisation of marriage experience in southwestern region.<\/p>\n<p>The case, whose details went viral on social media, took root after a 29-year-old Laban Sabiti, a retail businessman in Bishayu Village, Kitojo Parish, Ruhija Sub-county in Rubanda District, was left stranded with five children.<\/p>\n<p>These also include a 13-month toddler, who was left to the care of its father after he allegedly failed to settle bride price arrears totalling Shs6m.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Sabiti was left stranded after his father-in-law, Mr Geoffrey Kakona \u2014 a resident of Kirima Village, Bushuura parish in Kanungu District \u2014 reportedly reclaimed his daughter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is true I delayed paying bride price but I was planning to pay it in December this year. I was surprised when my father in-law came and took my wife, Ms Prize Twikirize even after explaining to him that I was willing to fulfil my traditional obligation,\u201d Mr Sabiti, who has filed a case of child neglect with the police, says.<\/p>\n<p>The eldest of Mr Sabiti\u2019s children is aged 10, while the youngest \u2014 a 13-month toddler \u2014 was still enjoying the bonding experience of breastfeeding.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Sabiti\u2019s travails highlight the marginalising and weakening of young males who intend to get married.<\/p>\n<p>Ankole Kingdom premier George William Katatumba has spoken out against what he termed as \u2018the commercialisation of wedding events\u2019 as one of the greatest threats to marriage.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur culture is being eroded. People dictate what pleases them at the expense of culture, which is why marriages are failing,\u201d Mr Katatumba, who is also the chairperson of Ankole Cultural Trust, says.<\/p>\n<p>He adds: \u201cTraditionally, a girl tells her parents that she has identified a suitor and the parents set a date for the spouse\u2019s first visit. When introduction is done, parents agree on a date for bride price payment before legalising their marriage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mr Katatumba notes that traditional norms were not honoured in Mr Sabiti\u2019s case since there was no recognised marriage.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSince Sabiiti has sired children, he has to pay a fine that usually consists of millet flour, a jerrycan of Tonto, a goat or sheep,\u201d Mr Katatumba reveals.<\/p>\n<p><b>\u2018Bride price unconstitutional\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Mbarara District senior probation officer, Mr Steven Tumwiine, weighed in on the debate, claiming bride price was outlawed by the government.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Tumwiine said: \u201cAccording to the laws of Uganda, dowry or bride price was abolished and any person aged 18 years and above has a right to marry a man or woman of her or his choice. So, the old man [Ms Twikirize\u2019s father] is infringing on the rights of his daughter. The old man is also infringing on the rights of his grandchildren by denying them a chance to have parents.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Constitutional Court, however, in 2017, dismissed a Mifumi Ltd\u2019s petition where the constitutionality of bride price was challenged at first instance. The court held that \u201cthe marriage custom in question was not unconstitutional.\u201d Earlier, in 2015, the Supreme Court ruled that the practice of refunding a bride price on the dissolution of a customary marriage is unconstitutional.<\/p>\n<p>The marriage custom of bride price has often been treated as a sticking point. Community development officers from the districts of Kabale, Kisoro and Rubanda told Daily Monitor on Monday that men in Kigezi treat women as their property because they are forced to pay exorbitant sums in form of bride price.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBride price is no longer looked at as a cultural belief, but rather a commercial venture for the girls\u2019 parents who demand too much from the men before they can give away their daughters,\u201d Mr Sam Niyonzima, the Kisoro District community development officer, said.<\/p>\n<p><b>Background<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>How things worked in the past<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Traditionally, in Kigezi and Ankole, a groom was expected to deliver two cows as bride price. Mr Sam Niyonzima, the Kisoro District community development officer says nowadays, they pay anywhere between Shs5m and Shs20m. He adds that such figures threaten rather than promote marriage.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy district records about 10 cases of domestic violence per month. Some of the wives whose husbands have not paid bride price abandon such marriages,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The situation is not different in Rukungiri District, where prohibitively high figures have precipitated domestic violence cases.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the past, a spouse would pay bride price in form of four cows and four goats, but now, it ranges between Shs4m and Shs10m,\u201d Mr Christopher Namara, the Kabale District community development officer, said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter paying high bride price, some husbands take their wives as a bought property, which results in family misunderstandings,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>The State Minister for Gender, Labour and Social Development, in-charge of Youth and Children, Ms Sarah Nyirabashitsi Mateke, advised parents not to commercialise marriage customs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt should be the responsibility of the husbands to pay something within their means as a token of appreciation to their in-laws,\u201d Ms Mateke advised.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Uganda. 29-year-old businessman Laban Sabiti was left stranded with five children, including a breastfeeding 13-month old toddler. The remarkable case of a bride price defaulter whose partner was recently taken away from him has highlighted what experts are calling the commercialisation of marriage experience in southwestern region. The case, whose details went viral [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":16883,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,8],"tags":[233,240,234],"class_list":["post-16884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-homepage-english","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-uganda","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Man fails to clear bride price, wife taken away - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"29-year-old businessman Laban Sabiti was left stranded with five children, including a breastfeeding 13-month old toddle ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/man-fails-to-clear-bride-price-wife-taken-away\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Man fails to clear bride price, wife taken away\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"29-year-old businessman Laban Sabiti was left stranded with five children, including a breastfeeding 13-month old toddle ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/man-fails-to-clear-bride-price-wife-taken-away\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uganda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-09-01T16:25:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/09\/img-612f8d3669c1d.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/man-fails-to-clear-bride-price-wife-taken-away#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/man-fails-to-clear-bride-price-wife-taken-away\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Man fails to clear bride price, wife taken away\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-01T16:25:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/man-fails-to-clear-bride-price-wife-taken-away\"},\"wordCount\":851,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/man-fails-to-clear-bride-price-wife-taken-away#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/09\/img-612f8d3669c1d.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Uganda\",\"uganda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\",\"homepage-english\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/man-fails-to-clear-bride-price-wife-taken-away#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/man-fails-to-clear-bride-price-wife-taken-away\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/man-fails-to-clear-bride-price-wife-taken-away\",\"name\":\"Man fails to clear bride price, wife taken away - 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