The speaker of Uganda Parliament Ms Rebecca Kadaga has announced that the August house is to discuss marital rape. But many people find this a very interesting topic.

Convincing everyone that rape is not nice is not exactly what’s called for; everyone knows that, especially rapists, but people find it hard to wholeheartedly support such a law in Uganda.

Many women talking of its advantage and there is nothing as painful as someone accusing one of rape when it’s not true.

Marital rape is a foreign concept to many women in Uganda but we hear it happens. Spousal rape and date rape are far more common than stranger rape in Uganda and across Africa. We could be splitting hairs here, but we think that some rapes are motivated by a sense that the victim is ‘inferior” to the perpetrator. In the case of spousal rape, the reason that many people give is that the woman didn’t serve their needs promptly, or that the women said no or that some petty incident provoked the assault. But then again, a woman refusing to have sex with her husband has got a serious charge in Islam, but I guess many Muslims don’t give a damn now!

The possibility for abuse of this marital rape law Kadaga is bringing is there especially considering what we have been reading in the Uganda local newspapers and websites such as www.weinformers.net and www.ugpulse.com. The possibility of abuse for women was always there and still is.

It is all confusing that Uganda is adopting all sorts of colonial laws. In Pakistan nearly 50% of women who report rape are jailed under the Hudood Ordinances, which criminalizes extramarital sexual relations, including rape. The Hudood Ordinances, implemented in 1979, abolished recognition and punishment for marital rape. Pakistan has no specific legislation against domestic violence. Should Ugandans copy a leaf from Pakistan?

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