Opinion
By Atuki Turner
20 December 2007
Kampala — BRIDE Price is a controversial issue and one which excites a hot debate whenever the topic is raised. Since MIFUMI began its campaign to reform this practice we have got mixed support from public figures.
The church is a very conservative institution which is hardly seen as an avant-garde of human rights or of women’s rights despite the fact that the Bible has numerous incidents where Jesus upheld women’s rights. It has often surprised me that the clergy have remained reluctant to start anything that might stir the waters. However we at MIFUMI have been increasingly pleased to come across the religious who are standing up in the struggle to reform bride price.
During the “Sixteen days of activism against Domestic Violence”, the Mifumi Human Rights Defenders network in Mbale held a demonstration to end violence against women. The procession was led by three priests; Fr Timothy Mayamba -Masaba of St Austin’s Church Mbale whose car carried the PA system, Fr Deo Eriot of Mbale College who led the procession and Fr Paul Okoth also of St Austin’s who organised the band and brought up the rear. These priests have given many interviews and carried out research on bride price. They are out spoken on the need for reform.
Pastor Wilberforce of Tororo is a human rights activist who uses the power of language to dramatise the negative impact of bride price in ways that endear his listeners to him. Last week, they had a meeting of clergy from all religious denominations and apparently a heated debate broke out when one of the clergy announced that the clergy were failing girls who were being forced into marriage by not denouncing bride price. That such debates are happening among the religious is a good sign.
In October when I sought out the new Archbishop in Tororo, His Grace Denis Kiwanuka, we discussed bride price. He recommended us to talk to Cardinal Renato Martino, President of the Pontifical Council of Justice and Peace at the Vatican. We duly took the letter to Cardinal Martino who wrote back an encouraging letter which we have printed to share with other readers.
Many women cannot leave violent partners because they cannot afford to refund bride price. In November, a woman was found lying dead by the roadside beside an abandoned pick-up on Mbale road.
People thought she had been a passenger in the pick-up but we later learned that the woman, a primary schoolheadmistress, had suffered years of violence. She returned home several times but her parents kept telling her they could not afford to refund bride price. Finally she said she would kill herself by throwing herself in-front of a train, a car, or by taking poison. True to her word she stepped in-front of the pick-up thus ending her life.
The clergy have more than a duty to speak out against abuse – they have a moral obligation. The church is one of the most influential institutions left in our society. People may listen to but they do not believe politicians. People may listen to academics but they do not understand them when they speak in academic tongues.
But people listen to their priests and pastors and believe them. That is why I am really glad that some clergy have come out clearly in support of the reform of bride price. Maybe God is speaking through them. Dear clergy, as Archbishop Kiwanuka so eloquently reminded us – Jesus did not come to abolish but to perfect the law – that is all you have to do!
The writer is the executive director, Mifumi Project