Religious leaders in Uganda have condemned moves by the nation’s Institutional Court to decriminalize adultery.Bishop Paul Luzinda of the Mukono Anglican Diocese and Catholic Bishop Mathias Ssekamanya of Masaka used the joint Christian prayers on Good Friday to condemn the move by the court April 5.
In a landmark ruling, the Constitutional Court unanimously said section 154 of the Penal Code Act, which criminalized adultery, was unconstitutional because it treated men and women differently.
Calling upon parliament to immediately come up with new laws against adultery, the clergy said the court ruling would worsen the already increasing immorality in the country
"The gap that has been created by the scraping of the crimes on adultery needs to be filled immediately," Bishop Luzinda said.
The court also nullified several sections of the Succession Act, which dealt with property for widows, guardianship of children and domicile upon marriage.
In the ruling, seen as a major victory for women activists, the judges added that the laws treated women as second-class citizens and were therefore inconsistent with the Constitution.
The petitions were brought before the court by the Law and Advocacy for Women in Uganda in 2005 and 2006. The court joined the petitions.
"We will ensure that all discriminatory laws are removed so that parliament enacts laws in accordance with the Constitution," said Law and Advocacy director Dora Byamukama after the ruling.
The adultery law prescribed different penalties and remedies for men and women.
It pre-supposed that only married men could be aggrieved in case of adultery.
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Disclaimer
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
Sotto Voce