Sewakiryanga quit his job to fight against child sacrifice

It is rare for any professional to dump a well-paying job to concentrate on something that does not pay.

But for, Mr Peter Sewakiryanga, 38, the executive director, Kyampisi Childcare Ministries (KCM), an NGO that fights to end acts of child sacrifice in Uganda, dumped his accountancy job to ensure that children’s rights are protected.

KCM, which also cares for survivors of attempted child sacrifice has its offices in Kyampisi sub-county, Mukono District, and operates in the whole country.

As an accountant in a private organization in Kampala, Sewakiryanga says, had a good salary and other benefits. Besides being an accountant, he was also a pastor whose ministries targeted children’s wellbeing.

“However, in 2007, when acts of child sacrifice intensified in the country particularly in areas of greater Mukono, I said I should do something that can see an end to these inhuman acts,” he said.

“Terrified by the acts, I abandoned my job. My mind was no longer about money but to ensure that the lives of children are saved,” Mr Sewakiryanga added.

In these acts of human sacrifice, Sewakiryanga notes the mutilated bodies of children and adults had been found, some with hearts and/or livers ripped out while other victims’ heads would be found missing.

“In most of the acts, police investigations pointed at witchdoctors as being behind them and greater Mukono during those years was wicked in regards to witchcraft,” he says.

This explains why he had to put the KCM offices in Kyampisi village, Kyampisi sub-county in Mukono district which was an epicenter for acts of human sacrifice.

However, in the start, Sewakiryanga had no strategy on how he would fight acts of child sacrifice.

“Because I and my colleagues looked at the acts of child sacrifice as a spiritual problem, which indeed it is, we started with holding prayers. We prayed to God to change the hearts of the people involved in these acts,” he says.

Later on, Sewakiryanga travelled to the United Kingdom and Australia where he rallied churches, asking them to join the fight.

During this time, KCM responded to some cases of child sacrifice across the country by conducting funerals of victims and also helping survivors get medical attention.

However, he says, the period between 2009 and 2011, proved worse as cases of child sacrifice were overwhelmingly many.

During this period, in the Kyampisi sub-county alone, Sewakiryanga says, one family, lost three children to acts of child sacrifice. The three children were kidnapped by assailants who slit their throats.

The bodies were later found abandoned in a bush.

“During the traumatizing incident, the throats of the three children were slit and blood collected by killers suspected to be witchdoctors. The blood was taken for ritual sacrifice,” he explains as he covers his face with his hand palms. His organization was involved in the burial of the victims.

The soaring cases necessitated the formation of a national task force on human sacrifice headed by Moses Binoga.

 Sewakiryanga actively worked with Binoga and the police to rescue abducted children and adults plus arresting and prosecuting suspects involved in acts of human sacrifice.

Seeing no end to the acts, Sewakiryanga petitioned the ninth parliament asking it to expedite the process of drafting a law that would severely punish culprits of human sacrifice. But parliament then did not answer his appeal.

He says although there was a law to punish culprits it was not deterrent enough to help end the vice.

Failure by the ninth parliament to draft an anti-human sacrifice law did not frustrate Sewakiryanga, who went ahead to demand the 10th parliament for the same law.

And after 10 years of lobbying, Sewakiryanga’s call was answered by the 10th parliament which enacted the Prevention and Prohibition of Human Sacrifice Act 2020 to prevent and punish the culprits in human sacrifice.

It was accented to by President Museveni and now all the would-be offenders face death or long prison sentences.

Sewakiryanga was among the people, who were at the frontline of the process of enacting the new law as he was and also facilitated consultative meetings that were held to collect views from stakeholders.

Currently, Sewakiryanga says they facilitate police to investigate cases of child sacrifice and explains that many cases of this nature are lost in court because of poor or incomplete investigations.

His organization is also involved in the rehabilitation of child sacrifice survivors through the provision of education and psycho-social support.

Through a formal memorandum of understanding with Uganda police and probation officers at districts, he gets to know about the acts of child sacrifice across the country.

He says a total of 30 children from poor families with support from KCM have completed their education while 400 are in primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions.

Another 91 children, who are either survivors or those from families of culprits are under rehabilitation in the KCM rehabilitation home.

“We also help child sacrifice victims to get specialized medical treatment as many of them need such treatment that can only be got outside the country,” he says.

In one incident, a boy’s genitals were cut off in an act of ritual sacrifice and had to be taken to Australia for specialized treatment.

This kind of treatment is very expensive but Sewakiryanga says with support from well-wishers, he is able to take victims to access such treatment which in some cases involves reconstructive surgery.

He says that because of his efforts to save the lives of children, he has received many awards. He won the European Union Human Rights Defenders Award in 2018.

Challenges

Sewakiryanga says the biggest challenge he faces while fighting to save the lives of children is the threats he gets from the culprits themselves or their families.

“On some occasions, I have received death threats from culprits. I fear for my life but I know God is there to protect me,” the father of four says.

Also, he says the cost for the treatment of survivors is quite expensive as sometimes their conditions necessitate being taken abroad for specialized treatment.

Sewakiryanga also says prosecution of these cases sometimes delays which frustrates justice.

“In some cases, the bones of the victims of human sacrifice have to be brought to court by relatives which is so traumatizing,” he says.

Because 99 per cent of the child sacrifice cases occur in poor families, some relatives of the victims are compromised by the suspects through financial offers and they don’t cooperate with the police in investigations.

Despite the challenges, Sewakiryanga is determined to see an end to child sacrifices in the country and says the successful enactment of the anti-human sacrifice law is just the beginning of his advocacy.

ABOUT SEWAKIRYANGA

Born 38 years ago, Sewakiryanga went to Mukono Bishops for his O-level education and then Kololo SS for his A’level. He has a bachelor’s degree in accounting and Human rights from Makerere University. He is married to Joeline Sewakiryanga with whom they have four children.