Ugandan Muslim woman political leader cautions Muslim women against opposing rights bill

by: Salaam

Tue Dec 23, 2008 at 09:46:21 AM EST

Kampala

Kampala Woman MP Nabillah Sempala, has cautioned Muslim women against opposing laws that are meant to protect their rights.

Ms Sempala, a Muslim, said opposing laws such as the Domestic Relations Bill (DRB) would lead to the continuation of the subjection of women to violence and inequalities in accessing, controlling, owning and inheriting land and other resources.

Ms Sempala said it is better to ask if one does not understand the components of the law other than opposing it out of ignorance.
"If you don't understand something, please ask. Ignorance sometimes forces people to fight against things that are meant to improve their welfare," Ms Sempala said.

"Islam has five pillars and marrying many wives is not one of them," she added. Ms Sempala was addressing participants at a conference for the Forum for Democratic Change Women's League in Kampala on December 18.

The conference sponsored by Action Aid International, Uganda, was co-hosted by the Uganda Women's Network, an NGO that brings together national women's organistations.

Ms Sempala's comment were triggered off by the statement made by one of Muslim women at the conference that Muslim women cannot stop their husbands from marrying more than one wife and that she had participated in a demonstration that was opposing provisions in the DRB that discourages polygamy yet the Quran allows it.

In 2005, more than 1,000 Muslim women and men stormed Kampala streets to demonstrate against some aspects of the DRB which they said were contravening the Islamic law.

Polygamy is one of the contentious issues in the bill.
It states that a husband should seek permission from his first wife before taking a second. Both men and women flashed four fingers in support of the Islamic law which allows a man to have up to four wives.

Story here.