Uganda’s outspoken Gen. David Sejusa has detonated yet another cultural time bomb — this time taking aim at western Ugandan parents who demand eye-watering bride prices before letting their daughters wed.
According to the general, some families are now demanding 15 cows plus a staggering 40 million shillings as the price tag for marriage. The result? A growing number of young women left “rotting at home, unmarried, well into their late years.”
“Parents have turned their daughters into investment projects,” Sejusa fumed, accusing them of holding out for fortunes while would-be husbands walk away empty-handed.
The firebrand’s remarks have struck a nerve, igniting chatter across Uganda about whether bride price has morphed from tradition into daylight extortion. Once a symbolic gesture of gratitude, the practice has ballooned into a cows-and-cash bonanza — one that critics say is destroying families before they even begin.
Supporters of Sejusa’s tirade say he has simply said what others fear to whisper: that greedy parents are the reason their daughters remain single. But defenders of tradition insist bride price safeguards cultural pride and must be respected.
Either way, the general has made his verdict crystal clear:
“It’s not love that’s missing. It’s affordability.”
