19810929 TZHC Dodoma

. . ··m !HE .HIGH cou:tt OF TANZANIA AT DODOMA . :{ . . MATRIMONIAL APPE..AL llo.3 OF t981 EDru LOLmGA . • . • • ... • • • • • :: Appellant .· (Or:ig;inal Petitioner) versus ._, >s!MULE ru.zooUNr ~ • • • • • • ... • •. • ·, ·,· Respondent .{Or~i~al..~dent} liA~A_. Jt; •-:,,.;....·... ;·:-; : .. 7' .•.. • .. :. ·•. On 2:i:.,Jti.ly • 1981 the District Court at :podci~a. disaolved •· •.,JI\\,, I the ·ma.rriage ·bet·Feen the parties on . a petition filed by the husband~ •. The wife was dissatisfi~d and she is now appealing against the: d;ecree . for the disolutiion .. of the marriage 1, .• . : : .•·· There were ·two gr.ound.s for· the petition'~ · The first !a ~ based on cruelty.. Tlle; husband· alleged: that his wife, thb appall.an~ ,-::P.~ .r0fus~d,-c:to cook· :t:ood. for h:im · and had also refused him. ~exual in•tJarcourse · with 1 her. These· allegatiqns were veheme2:tly denieg..Jzy the:·wife. ·,.Ji.s regards the allegations about the wife• s refuf?.al, fo.r:'·seXttB.1·:·.:iJ1tero<>Ul'6e I DlUst Et~ that this allegation could not form a basis for a petition for divorce because that c c.mplaint was not ~ferred. to the .' !Iarriage Conciliatory Board. The certificate issued by the Board and whieh was tendered- ill the ··trial court as Eixhi.)li; is c~ar •. There was no complaint niMe to. t'he· board a.bout the W:i!~ '-.s ,refusal to have sex· with her husbandt .As· such the trial court. could not entertain ·that _.complaint 1 £°or-~- ·under section 101 of the Law of narriage Act 1971 every matrimonial · . -;~l:iffi,cµlty . ·-· must. first be ref.erred to a Board he:fore it oan .... ·;: .·.entertained . ,•. :in a court erf law., - ·· · .. ·. The second comp~ain.t is about. the wife~ refusal to cook food for th~-;'" husband. Again. ·this was den·ied by the a.ppelllµl.t/ wife who said that her husband, the respondent, was refusit'lg to eat food she had cooked. This would appear to have some basis, for, even one witness at the trial, Sajin~ (DW.2) told that court ·that the r~spondent had oanplaino4 that the ; appellant had put human excreta in his food, Even at the / hearing of this appoal, the· respondent said he had sus~",. ·' ~lthough he had :n_o evidence to prove_, that the appellal., put human excreta in his ~ood 1 · \ ....... /2. \ .. - That would .appear to be. the reason for the respondent's · r~usal to eat the food cooked by his wife, the appella:ilt• ,'; • l The respondent's allegation that his wife had refused to cook food for him was not proved and that allegationishould have been dismissed. There remains the allegatio:µ ~hat the,..~ppellant• .~;rife had de~erted the respondent. In his evid-~~ce ~-· the respondent alleged that th~ appell~t had left the matrimonial home in 1980 for no lawfuJ,. r~ason. But the respon.dent•s own r witness, Makole (FW.3) said-t.hat the respondent himself ' ' - ,.·-, .. · /,_ • i -chased away the appellant from the matr:Lmonial home after ,,·:•.:. <their J!':1~rrel about food. At the hearw -of -~s ap~, :.:L- ....:.. .•_· the. re~pondent said that he told the appellant to leave _the matrimonial home because the appellant.had r0,fused to cook food for him. It will be ~een therefore that· the . , • I ~ ('• • • ' re13pondent' s complaint about the wife's desertion has no ba.sis at all. I may just a dd here that e~en i:f the . wife ha,d left the matrimonial home for no reason as alleged, that would not be a basis for dissolving the marriage, For deser·tion to be a ground for divorce, it .. !Ilust be· p:roved to have lasted for. at least three ye~!~, vide section 1b7 . ( e) of the Law of Marriage Act, .· ·The appe- llant had been away from the matrimonial home for only one_year. l')"(' The parties may have developed a dislike.to ; each other ' but that is not i.~.;good cause for divorc.~. No marriage is without its ditficulties. But sue~ P;etty quarrel~ like the .ones mention·ed in this petition cannot be a basis -for · dissolving the.·rna.,rriage. C This appeal iaaJ_lo:wed. ·-,, The order .P;f_dissolving . _vhe :_. ,. _.marriage is set aside. I do not make BIJ.Y ord~r for 9os~s, ~-· ·w .J .MAINA- JUDGE DODOMA 29.9.1981 '. .·Appellant ijbsent (with leave of. the. court) Respondent. ·present : . ; ~I .