Mbale, Uganda: The Bamasaaba cultural institution has outlawed the issuance of Customary Marriage Certificates to underage individuals, particularly school-going learners, as part of renewed efforts to combat early marriages and safeguard the future of young girls in Bugisu.
Speaking during a cultural outreach session at Bubyangu Senior Secondary School, the institution’s spokesperson Mr. Steven Masiga said the directive comes straight from Umukuka III Jude Mike Mudoma, the reigning cultural leader of the Bamasaaba.
Mr Masiga explained that the institution will no longer validate any customary union involving a student or a person below the legally recognized marriage age.
“As a cultural institution mandated under the Marriage Act, we shall never issue a marriage certificate when one is below the legal age or still in school,” he said. “We cannot participate in sanctioning or validating illegal marriages. Every cultural institution in Uganda should take note of this deliberate move.”
Masiga, who has embarked on a regional campaign of cultural talks in schools across Masaabaland, used the occasion to strongly denounce early marriages, gang behavior, and drug abuse among students. He warned that narcotics use is not only criminal but impairs reasoning and is increasingly linked to school dropouts and community unrest.
“Legal research shows that criminality is not associated with intelligence. Most criminal-minded youth are actually not brilliant. Drug consumption suffocates reasoning and breeds violence,” Masiga warned.
He also rallied the Bungokho North community to embrace free government education programs such as Universal Secondary Education (USE) and other social development schemes aimed at reducing poverty and promoting literacy among young people.
The Headmistress of Bubyangu Senior Secondary School, Madam Norah, praised the cultural institution for its firm stance on early marriage.
She pledged to continue sensitizing parents and learners in Bufumbo and Bubyangu sub-counties about the dangers of child marriage and the value of education, especially for the girl child.
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