/ 21 April 1999

MOCK WEDDING PROTESTED

UGANDAN women’s groups are protesting the proposed mock-marriage of a 13-year-old schoolgirl to the 40-year-old king of the Baganda, Ronald Mutebi, which may force her to remain a virgin for the rest of her life.The mock-wedding with the kabaka is a prelude to his real marriage later this year to Sylvia Nagginda Luswata, a US-resident Ugandan. Joseph Ssemogerere, the prime minister of Buganda, a traditional kingdom in central and southern Uganda, has told the activists the mock-marriage is part of an 800-year-old tradition, but that Nakku will not have to remain a virgin. But they said the girl herself has told them she will have to abide by certain, unnamed, cultural practices. The kabakaship was reinstated in 1992 following its abolition in 1966 by then president Milton Obote.