Government speaks on Marriage Act amendment

Dar es Salaam. The government will next week provide the status of the preparation of bill to amend the Marriage Act 1971.

Deputy Minister for Constitutional and Legal Affairs Geoffrey Pinda told The Citizen that the bill preparation involves collection of opinions from different before tabling it in Parliament.

“I will convene a meeting with stakeholders in Dodoma next week to receive report on the development of opinion collection. After the meeting, I will be in a position to provide the timeframe for the bill’s submission in Parliament,” he said.

The government was making efforts to implement the High Court of Tanzania decision to strike out all provisions in the Law of Marriage Act, 1971, which allow a girl under 18 years old to get married with her parent’s consent that was also upheld by the Court of Appeal.

Read: Amendment of Marriage Act ‘will take time’

In the ruling delivered by Judge Ataulwa Munisi on behalf of two other judges in 2016, the Court stated that sections 13 and 17 of the Marriage Act, 1971 were unconstitutional.

The High Court gave the judgment following petition No 5 of 2016 filed by Ms Rebecca Gyumi, the founder and director of Children’s Rights Organisation called Msichana Initiative.

But, the government’s petition through the Attorney General hit the brick as the Court of Appeal upheld the High Court decision.

But, since then, no section of the Marriage Act has been amended, with human rights activists questioning the reason for delay.

Recently, stakeholders who gathered for discussion on Universal Access to Sexual Reproductive Health and Right (SRHR) raised a similar concern referring the law as a major escalating the state of child marriage, unsafe abortion and maternal mortality death.

However, Mr Pinda said the government was making better plans for better interest of girls through broader stakeholder’s involvement.

“It is not a matter of making legal declaration that Tanzania girls shouldn’t be married below the age of 18, but what is next to the girls dropped from school after primary education. We are taking the issue in a broad term,’ he insisted.

But, speaking during the SRHR discussions, stakeholders said there was a need to improve the quality of health services such as access to voluntarily family planning services and comprehensive response to prevent teenage pregnancy amounting to 27 percent among girls aged 15-19 years.

But, during the event, the director of reproductive and child health services from the ministry of Health, Dr Ahmad Makuwani said government recognizes stakeholders’ contribution in reducing the status of maternal and neonatal death in the country.