Editor,

RE: "Should adultery be decriminalised?” (The New Times, April 15).

The most important aspect is to teach good family values to the young generation and the importance of stable relationships, then they’ll be able to make the right decisions to protect themselves and their loved ones when faced with marital challenges among other things.

The role of the state should be to ensure there’s a peaceful transition without forcing people to live together in the environs of brutality, mistrust, unfaithfulness, violence and consequently hate or even worse, death.

Dee

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Criminalising adultery makes no sense at all. The state has no business judging what two consenting adults do together. The aggrieved party should sue for breach of contract or seek family support to mediate/reprimand the wrongdoer.

As it is, those who are affected disproportionately by this ridiculous law are poor people, especially women, who cannot afford to commit adultery in private, often posh, hard to access places.

When was the last time you saw a rich politician or businessman/businesswoman dragged to jail and court for adultery? A parliament full of women should really think harder about how these unnecessary laws affect poor women and use up state resources that can be directed to more urgent, serious matters.

Decriminalise adultery as soon as possible.

Sheila M.

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"Marriage is a scared institution that isrecognised and blessed by God above all else, then witnesses (family and friends) next. It mirrors the values and morals of society as well as setting an example for future generations.”

You are using religious law to justify criminalising adultery. This is not Saudi Arabia. This is Rwanda. Not everybody in Rwanda is religious. Will be exempt from the penalties that come from the commission of adultery? Are the "values and morals” of any society set in stone?

Because that would mean the morals and values of Rwandan society are the same as they were a thousand years ago. In which case, we would not have a majority female Parliament. Shall we go ahead and make it criminal for women to become parliamentarians?

Whenever you try to force your religious beliefs or "morals” on others of a different view, you are traveling down a dangerous path. Adultery should not be a criminal matter for the state to decide. Matters of marriage and adultery are for the couple concerned to deal with.

If someone chooses to betray the love and trust of their spouse, that’s between them. At most, adultery should lead to the dissolution of marriage in a civil court.

We are not a theocracy in Rwanda. If you want people to refrain from committing adultery, then perhaps raise your children to have these religious beliefs and morals you so fervently profess. Other people’s marriages are not your business.

Dayo Ntwari