General
Source: Tanzania Daily News
Dodoma — An exercise to review the 1971 Marriage Act, which seems to have outlived its efficacy in this era of women empowerment, has started, government disclosed yesterday.
Deputy Minister for Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, Dr Hamis Kigwangalla, told the House that the government has re-initiated a White Paper process to gather people's views on the changes to curb child marriages.
The exercise was started earlier but stopped in 2014 as it collided with the process for rewriting the country's new constitution. Dr Kigwangalla was responding to Ms Taska Mbogo (Special Seats-CCM) who wanted to know when exactly the government will make another study on the 1971 Marriage Act.
The lawmaker claimed that despite being outdated, the edict was also oppressive to women. She called for a total overhaul of the Act to raise the minimum age of marriage to girls so as to prevent such unnecessary oppression to girls.
The MP wanted the government to bring in the National Assembly a bill seeking removal of clauses in the Marriage Act of 1971 which allows girls under 18 years to get married. "We must put on framework for removing discriminatory laws," she said, noting that the government should remove the clauses which allow child marriages in the laws.
It also permits both girls and boys to marry at 14 with a court's permission.
The deputy minister acknowledged that there is a contradiction in laws of the land on the minimum age for girls to marry, saying that such discriminatory laws also contributed to child pregnancies.
He said the government would bring in a bill for a review of the Marriage Act to remove clauses which discriminate children. He noted that while the government was re-initiating the white paper process, it would also come with proposals for a review of all other laws which are oppressive to women.