{UAH} WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR ME IF MY HUSBAND DECIDES TO TAKE MY CO-WIFE TO CHURCH?

WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR ME IF MY HUSBAND DECIDES TO TAKE MY CO-WIFE TO CHURCH?

Chris had two sweethearts, Peace and Patience but did not want to annoy either of them. So he decided to marry both of them traditionally (he did kwanjula). All was going well until he decided that he wanted the Church he joined to recognise his marriage and he made plans to wed his first wife Peace in church. Patience is confused and has vowed to stop this, because 'even her' she is a wife.

WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY ABOUT MARRYING IN CHURCH IF YOU ARE ALREADY MARRIED?

Under the Marriage law in Uganda, a customary/traditional marriage is a potentially polygamous form of marriage; meaning you can have more than one wife under customary or traditional marriage i.e kwanjula, kuhingira while civil marriage and christian marriage are strictly monogamous marriages (meaning one husband to one wife).

Since Chris married Peace and Patience traditionally, the law does not allow him to convert this marriage to a monogamous marriage because both wives are legally married to him. This means the church marriage will not be legal even if he goes ahead to wed Peace.

DOES THIS MEAN A CUSTOMARY MARRIAGE CANNOT BECOME CIVIL OR CHURCH MARRIAGE?

It can. There are two ways a customary marriage can be converted to either one of the two above.

1. If Chris were to divorce Patience, then he would be free to marry Peace in church.

2. If Chris had only married one woman traditionally, then the law would allow him to convert that marriage to a civil or church marriage because he would not have been in a polygamous marriage.

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"When a man is stung by a bee, he doesn't set off to destroy all beehives"

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