Uganda’s Anti-Luxury Wedding Act, is just what Kenyan men might need to ease the burden of tying the knot hence tone down on excuses.
Seems like if they are not clobbering themselves silly, the neighboring MPs are out to defend the most important unit of a society;the family. In Uganda, dowry payment like in many African communities is almost compulsory and families are known to ask for exorbitant amount in cash and livestock.
According to Daily Monitor, the average annual income per person in Uganda is $720 (Shs2.628m) meaning it will take the average Ugandan two years of saving every single penny he earns to pay for five cows at Sh1million each to secure a wife.
In the proposed Anti-Luxury Wedding Act, a ceiling will be levied on bride price across the country so that it becomes illegal to solicit and pay more than one currency point, which currently stands at Uganda Sh20,000, for a wife. With this, even those fellows who live on one US dollar a day will finally have capacity to save Sh100 for a year and pay for a wife.
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Assuming the traditional hurdles have been cleared, which also come with at least two ceremonies in which in laws are feted with yet more gifts, the man eventually has to seal it with a wedding in church and a reception for the guests.
Churches in Uganda allegedly charge as much as Sh500,000 to hold a wedding service. In the proposed legislation, it will be illegal for churches to charge a fee for a wedding service; they should do this as part of their community mandate, just like they do not charge fees for holding Sunday services.
The reception where hunger for pomp and glamour becomes manifest leaving married couples wallowing in debt because they had to pay Shs15m to decorate a wedding venue will be scrapped off. In the Anti-Luxury Wedding Act, it will become illegal to hold wedding receptions in Uganda.
Couples will be expected to exchange their vows in church, and thereafter, proceed to their homes to live happily ever after, investing their would-have-been reception-cash on income generating projects to secure their offspring’s future.
Men, now relieved of the unnecessary financial burden involved in weddings, will be quicker to commit, or at least, will find less excuses for not doing so.
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