Legal committee starts reconsideration of Succession Amendment Bill

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee has started reconsidering the Succession Amendment Bill, 2018 that was recently returned to Parliament by President Yoweri Museveni.

MPs on the committee met with Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka, Administrator General Charles Kasibayo and the mover of the Bill, Rosette Mutambi Kajungu, former Mbarara Woman MP.

These supported President Museveni’s position highlighted in a letter addressed to the Speaker of Parliament.

While approving the Bill in April 2021, Parliament introduced a new agreement of sharing property where a spouse has died intestate and Museveni has since requested that this is reconsidered. Intestate is a spouse who dies without a will and the Bill seeks to settle management of their estate.

In the Bill, parliament provided that where an intestate is survived by the spouse and a dependent relative but no lineage dependents, the spouse shall receive 80 percent and the dependent relative shall receive 20 percent of the whole property of an intestate.

However, President Museveni says that the provision is a complete departure from earlier provisions of the law and has no clear justification. Museveni argued that the provision would be unfair to dependent relatives and also create disharmony between the surviving spouse and the deceased’s relatives.

He proposes that the widow or widower receives 50 percent of the estate, dependent relatives 49 percent of the estate and customary heir 1 percent of the estate.

The President also criticized a clause that seeks to provide that the surviving spouse of the intestate shall not take any interest in the estate of an intestate if the marriage between the surviving spouse or the intestate was suspended either by agreement or judicial officer.

He proposed that this clause is deleted because it is ambiguous, also arguing that where marriage is suspended by judicial order, the court would have to make a provision for sharing the property between the parties and that such an order would still suffice in the event of the death of one of the parties.

According to the President, there is no need for parliament to provide for sharing of the property where a judicial order has already been issued.

Mutambi said that she had discussed issues raised by the President about the Bill with the Uganda Parliamentary Women’s Association (UWOPA) and that they concede.

She said that she agrees with the President’s proposal of the widow or widower receiving 50 percent of the estate, dependent relatives 49 percent of the estate and customary heir 1 percent of the estate. She however said that this is based on different arguments.

“After distribution, there is a possibility that unknown children of the deceased may emerge that the surviving spouse is not aware of. These children may then benefit from the 49 percent of the estate distributed to the dependent relatives. In Addition, since the principle residential holding has already been reserved for the benefit of the surviving spouse, it is equitable for them to be entitled to 50 percent,” Mutambi said.

Mutambi agreed with the President’s proposal to delete a clause that seeks to provide that the surviving spouse of the intestate shall not take any interest in the estate of an intestate if the marriage between the surviving spouse or the intestate was suspended either by agreement or judicial officer.

Charles Kasibayo, the Administrator-General advised that when any children emerge after an estate has been distributed, these would not benefit from the estate.

Kiryowa Kiwanuka, the Attorney General appealed to the Committee to adopt the President’s position on the Bill.

Robinah Rwakoojo, the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee Chairperson said that the committee has only seven days to reconsider the Bill and report back to Parliament.

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