By Mulengera Reporters
A proposal by Pastor Martin Ssempa urging Parliament to mandate minimum sexual obligations in marriage and permit polygamous Christian unions has sparked controversy among lawmakers, particularly female MPs.
During a meeting of the Joint Committees on Legal and Gender Affairs on February 6, 2024, Ssempa argued that the Marriage Bill, 2024, should require couples to engage in sex at least three times a week and penalize those who fail to fulfill their conjugal obligations.
“If a wife or husband asks for sex and is denied, that should constitute an offense,” he said. “We can even specify the minimum conjugal standards—at least three times a week.”
His remarks were in response to Clause 41(1)(a) of the bill, which allows for a marriage to be annulled if a spouse refuses to consummate it within three months. Ssempa, while supporting the clause, called for a stricter provision to penalize individuals who deny their spouses sex.
Female MPs pushed back against the proposal, questioning both its practicality and fairness. National Women MP for Persons with Disabilities, Laura Kanushu, noted that men also deny their spouses sex, making Ssempa’s argument biased.
“I felt that you were targeting women,” she said. “There are many women who are being denied sex too. And how do we legislate this? How do you prove that someone has been denied sex? Sex is private—we don’t do it in the streets.”
Oyam Woman MP Santa Alum dismissed the idea as unrealistic, pointing to the economic burdens many women face.
“In Uganda today, women are the breadwinners, toiling from morning to night while men sit idle. And now, you want to legally force a woman who is exhausted or sick to have sex three times a week?”
Workers MP Margaret Rwabushaija also rejected the proposal, arguing that it failed to address more pressing issues in marriage, such as domestic abuse and economic inequality.
Push for Polygamy in Christian Marriages
Ssempa also objected to the bill’s restriction of Christian marriages to monogamy, arguing that biblical figures such as Jacob and David had multiple wives.
“The Bible does not make exclusions; it speaks of both polygamous and monogamous marriages,” he stated. He blamed foreign influences for discouraging polygamy, adding, “The same foreigners who reject polygamy are now embracing homosexuality.”
However, MPs challenged Ssempa’s interpretation of Christian teachings. Kanushu questioned why he was advocating for polygamy in Christian marriages while ignoring the absence of such support in the New Testament.
“If you want us to make Christian marriages polygamous, do you also want us, the women, to have more than one husband?” she asked.
Ssempa clarified that while he does not personally practice polygamy, he believes Christians who do should not be criminalized.
Criminalizing Adultery
In addition to polygamy, Ssempa called for the reintroduction of adultery as a criminal offense, arguing that Uganda lacks proper laws to handle infidelity in marriage.
“We can’t have a country where there is no law to resolve domestic disputes, especially around adultery. It’s embarrassing that police can’t help a spouse whose partner is found cheating,” he said.
Nakaseke Central MP Allan Mayanja welcomed the proposal, noting that Parliament should reconsider criminalizing adultery, especially since a previous law on the matter was struck down as unconstitutional.
However, Ssempa dismissed suggestions from women’s rights activists that, if polygamy were allowed, women should also be permitted to have multiple husbands.
“We are a patriarchal society,” he said. “If you have three men marrying one woman, how do you determine whose child that is? This would cause social breakdown.”
Despite his firm stance, Ssempa later walked back on his support for polygamy following backlash from Christian leaders, stating that he did not personally promote it but believed that legal space should be created for those who practice it-Parliament Watch.(For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
