Most girls and boys in Muhanga district have confessed that they start illegal marriages due to lack of money required for the civil marriage and wait for the government’s free civil marriage.
This was revealed by some of the 67 couples out of 210 registered couples that exchanged vows in civil marriage free of charge before Nyamabuye sector administration in Southern Province.
The couples confirm they planned living together illegally because civil wedding requires the couple to pay Rwf10000; in this case they wait for the government to arrange free mass weddings.
Emmanuel Habimana, who laid ambush to get his wife, asserts that “instead of paying Rwf10000, I would advise others to do what I did. We thought about it with my wife but opted to wait for the free government service because we couldn’t afford that money.”
This has made some residents to think that these free services might encourage many people into illegal marriages.
However, the executive secretary of Nyamabuye sector, Jean Baptiste Mugunga highlights that free civil marriage shouldn’t be a problem to some people because it rarely happens and it’s meant for couples that have been illegally married for three years.
Mugunga adds that Rwf10000 charged for civil marriage is not big money to stop two people in love from getting united legally.