Politics causing marriage breakup, say leaders

Ms Margaret Angufiru, a former Ayivu County MP, speaks at the meeting about gender issues in Arua Town on Monday. PHOTO BY CLEMENT ALUMA

ARUA. Participants at a conference about gender issues during elections have observed that women fail to get their husbands’ support to join politics at higher levels due to fear that other men will snatch them.
Some of the participant’s also said after joining politics, women begin to look down upon their husbands and dump them for other men.
“It’s on record that very many women who joined politics abandoned their husbands and also some men abandoned their wives. My advice to female leaders is that they should keep their integrity,” Mr Hamza Manzu, the Arua Forum for Democratic Change chairperson, said during the meeting in Arua Town on Monday.

Family breakdown
Ms Suzan Ezatia, former contestant for Arua District Woman parliamentary seat, said some women who join politics fail to properly apportion time between their families and politics hence leading to break down of their families.
The acting director of Uganda Christian University, the Rev Can Fanuel Onzima, said families are built on love and trust, without which they collapse.
Mr Evans Vuata, a senior police officer, revealed that many cases of immorality, including sexual harassment, were recorded during the 2011 elections.

‘Misconception’
The executive director of Women in Democracy Network, Uganda Chapter, Ms Perry Aritua, said some of the misconceptions against women were cultural and called on cultural and religious leaders to educate the masses about the importance of women in politics.
The conference was organised by the Women in Democracy Network.