
“89. Holding out as though married ( I ) A person who holds out as a husband or wife under this Act, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding five hundred currency points or imprisonment not exceeding three years or both” (2) Holding out under this part means living together as husband and wife, acquiring or owing property jointly, bearing children together, and taking on the man’s surname by the woman” (The Marriage Bill, 16.08.2024).
“A proposal in the Marriage Bill 2024 has sparked outrage among female activists in Uganda. The bill, authored by Tororo Woman MP Sarah Opendi, suggests imposing a Shs10 million fine or a three-year jail term on individuals found cohabiting. Rose Wakikona, Deputy Executive Director of the Women’s Probono Initiative, strongly opposes this provision, emphasizing that cohabiting is a social issue, not a legal one, and that punitive measures won’t resolve it” (91.2 Crooze FM, 06.02.2025).
It is now becoming evident that Sara Achieng Opendi MP of Tororo district wants penalize couples who decides to live together before marriage. The MP have created a stipulated article under a new law to not only fine the individuals who does this, but also possibly send them to prison.
That is really telling a tale of its own. The morality and the judgement of the state to interfere in this manner. That the government should have a say and decide who people lives with and how they are organizing their lives. Because that is the endgame here.
They either have to be by law, or they have to face the law. There is no trial or no testing. There is one set of rules, and the citizens has to comply. The “living in sin” would be codified and be law. Meaning the ones that dared to do it and act within the range of this could possibly face legal jeopardy. However, will the government start to register who is a couple and who is not? Will the government have a registry of everyone cohabiting and having deadlines on when they have made it official?
Because this is a bureaucratic hurdle. This is directly interfering in people’s love life and how they decide to live. It is the bureaucratic reform that enlarge the government and its possible forms. There is a need of registration and a follow-up of it. Since the state has to verify and justify the punitive actions on the couples that does this. Meaning they need to have it in their books that they did live together as a couple and was “holding out as though married” for a set amount of time. That is a story in itself and someone has to follow up on that on a regular basis. Before the bureaucrats are building a case and penalizing someone with either a fine or a charges broad enough to give the person jail time.
Alas, that is the big problem here. Where should the state start doing this? Where should the citizens comply to this and what is their motivation to do so?
This isn’t solving a problem, but criminalizing it. Instead of looking into the social factors and the reasons for why people decides to cohabiting instead marriage. That should be the question. The state and the authorities should wonder why they decide to lie the way they do and not legalize their union. That should be the question of the state and if that is the given that the state wants. Maybe it should try to figure out ways to make it more feasible, make it more easy or give it perks, which gives the reason for a union in the first place. Not only make a legally binding between two individuals, but also gives it perks that is advancing. So, that the ones that are cohabiting wants to move from just that to become married too. That’s what the government should do. It shouldn’t come with a strike of vengeance and with fear. No, it should come with solutions and possibilities so the citizens can assess their status and what is the best for them. Peace.











