Food crisis hits Gulu remand home

Gulu. Gulu Remand Home does not have enough food to feed the more than 50 juveniles currently detained there, officials have said.
Gulu High Court Judge Vincent Okwang on Wednesday revealed that in his recent visit to the remand home, he was shocked to find out that the home had meals left for a day.
“Actually, it was one meal and they didn’t know where they would get their next meal. We tried to work around to see that they get food from the prisons,” Justice Okwang told a Judiciary team led by the Inspector of Courts, Justice Augustine Nshimye.

Justice Okwang added: “This is not good for a government entity to beg food from another.”
Justice Nshimye is on a three-day inspection tour of courts in eastern and northern region to assess the challenges facing children justice in the country and propose ways of remedying them.
The CAO, Ms Dorothy Ajwang, admitted that there is a big problem in regard to feeding the juveniles, adding that they usually look for funds on a daily basis in order to feed the juveniles.

“We are actually looking for funds to run this remand home on a day-to-day basis as the district, which is not good. We request government through the Gender ministry to solve this issue,” Ms Ajwang said.
“It does not make sense to keep children in a remand home and yet we can’t feed them,” she added.
When this newspaper contacted Mr Pius Bigirimana, the Gender ministry permanent secretary, on what plans they have as the line ministry to combat the problem, he said: “We shall follow up the matter.”
Lack of beddings, congestion and lack of transport are the other challenges that Gulu Remand Home faces.

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