Cash shortfalls threatening efforts to end child marriage

Local authorities have said low funding in the child protection system has hampered the fight against early marriages amid increasing cases of sexual offences against children in western Uganda.

 Beyond the Gender ministry, the mandate for child protection is shared with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Ministry of Education and Sports, and Ministry of Health. At the district level, the role of child protection is with the community-based services department.

 This newspaper established that apart from salaries of government child protection staff, most of the funding for child protection programmes is donor dependent.

 Ms Lydia Namasoga, the community development officer of Bugulumbya Sub-county in Kamuli District, decries poor funding, which she says has crippled processes to follow up on reported sexual offences against children.

 “I also don’t have a motorcycle. I rely on public means to get to the community. I don’t have a budget and it means there are many cases probably I’m not reaching,” she says.

 According to Ms Namasoga, her office receives on average of four cases of defilement every week.

 “I believe there are many children out there who need my support but because of the [limited] resources, I am unable to reach them,” she says.        

Weaknesses in the functionality of the child protection system cut across different departments concerned with children’s affairs.

 Assistant Superintendent of Police Kulthum Nakyesa, the in-charge of Child and Family Protection Unit at Bugembe Police Station in Jinja, says her department lacks an office to carry out operations.

 “Meaning confidentiality is not promoted. We don’t even have a motorcycle to rush to wherever we have got an information that there is child abuse. There is no computer where you can store your information for data management,” she says.

 ASP Nakyesa says: “No cameras! You know in such cases, we need most of the time to take photos at the time of the offence. Maybe you find the child bleeding, maybe you find even blood on the ground, and maybe you find those dirty clothes.”

She adds: “When you tender those photos, the magistrate will know what this person went through before passing the sentence, and maybe we can get some good punishment for this person (offender)– to let others also know that it is not a good act.”

 Ms Betty Kyasiimire, the officer-in-charge of CPFU at Fort Portal East Division Police Station, says her department had not received any budget to execute its mandate.

 She appeals to government and other civil society organisations to at least provide with fuel cards to facilitate their work.

 “They should also provide a shelter and food for the missing children [who are found] while we wait for their relatives to pick them up,” she says at a meeting in Fort Portal City.

 The issue of budget allocation surfaced prominently during the one-day meeting for members of Girls Not Brides Uganda, a diverse network of civil society organisations working to end child marriage around the world.

 Members of Girls Not Brides Uganda ask the government to fully involve them in all stages of budgeting.

 They also urge the government to strengthen local structures with capacity to manage and report cases of violence against children.

 Participants had gathered in Fort Portal City to discuss what best practices and approaches to use to end child marriage.

 Ms Kyasimire says child neglect cases are increasing. In the last four months, 30 cases have been registered at the police station.   “This is because young girls get pregnant and in the end the man runs away and they cannot shoulder the responsibility,” she says.

 AIP Elizabeth Murungi, the Gender desk at Booma Police Station, Fort Portal, says they have so far received 10 cases of defilement since January.

 “There could be more cases related to defilement and rape but people do not report and some choose to settle cases at a family level,” she said.

 Members of Girls Not Brides Uganda say they would end child marriages through the existing structures.

 Joy for Children Uganda, who is the host secretariat of Girls Not Brides Uganda, says they are working with schools of Kaboyo, Magunga, Mugusu, Nyansozi, Good Life, Kicwamba, Kisanga Valley, Kinyabuhara, St Mark, and St Stephen Wisdom primary schools, all in Fort Portal, to enforce policies and laws in schools.

 Ms Barbra Namara of Joy for Children says: “So far, these schools have put in place, anti-sexual violence, anti-bullying and zero-tolerance to corporal punishment policy to help reduce violence of children in schools.”

 Hope of Young Mothers Development Initiative (HOMODI) says they have supported young girls through socio-economic empowerment in multiple life skills and training.

 The organisation says at least 97 young women and girls have so far completed their short vocational courses in tailoring and hairdressing and were awarded with startup capital.

 When contacted yesterday over lack of funding, Mr Frank Mugabe, the spokesperson of the ministry of Gender, referred the Daily Monitor to the commissioner of Gender and Women Affairs.

We were unable to get a comment from Ms Angella Nakafeero, the commissioner,  as our texts and calls went unanswered by presstime.

Background

In Kabarole, a total of 2,271 teenage pregnancies were registered between July 2021 and September 2022, involving girls between the ages of 15 and 19 years.

 Kabarole District health educator Catherine Kemigabo attributes the problem to low uptake of family planning.

 She says last year, a total of 8,425 people were enrolled on short-term family planning methods while 161 people were enrolled on long-term methods.

The Kyenjojo senior probation and social welfare officer, Ms Joselyn Mbabazi Olimi, says her office is always overwhelmed with cases of defilement, and child-to-child sex cases.

 She says on average, 25 cases of defilement and five cases of child-to- child sex are registered in Kyenjojo monthly.  In Kyenjojo District, cases of teenage pregnancy are most prevalent in Kigoyera, Bufujo, Nyakwazi, Kigarare, Kyakatwire, Nyabuharwa and Kyarusozi sub-counties and Kyenjojo Town council.