State in Uganda comes to life more efficiently when threatened

Darkness, they say, is an aphrodisiac. So it turns out to be, in the Covid-19 lockdown. 
The return from almost all districts of Uganda shows an alarmingly high number of school going girls who have been impregnated in the last seven months . 

When Uganda went into lockdown in March as a measure against the dreaded coronavirus, school goers literally went home and sat with nothing else to do. They were soon joined by adults who were out of job for most of that time. Some think the idleness of the mind invited the devil to introduce an amorous agenda. Possible.

But that can’t be the best explanation. The fact that the rural areas which are more backward than the urban have more cases of defilement and teenage pregnancies says a lot about the health of the State. Where the modern State is weak, it follows that society can risk breaking the law if at all they know the law, and get away with it.

In the same vein, where the State is strong and present in all facets of life, the citizen is likely to have answers, checks and balances to challenges they face on a daily basis.

For instance, where you have available and affordable electricity, people may watch television or read as a distraction from the easier option of jumping into bed because there is nothing else to do. Where you have youth centres, public libraries, green spaces, etc, for the young to constructively expend their energies in sports or by acquiring extra-curricular skills sexual intercourse may be relegated to the lower rungs in the order of priorities.

All these may be complemented with tailor-made counselling and guidance services on reproduction as the young experience their bodies maturing from childhood.

Second, if the citizen is gainfully employed in a properly functioning economy, that will be a solution to many of the challenges their children face. The parents would not need to work very long hours that keep them away from their children with little pay. They would also not need to send young children to engage in unsupervised labour such as hawking foodstuffs by the roadside to supplement the family income.

Some people are so poor that they look at their children as a source of that often spoken about, one meal a day. They will covertly allow them to have sex with men if there is pay to feed the family afterwards.

In some cases, they will marry them off early if they look ‘ripe.’ 
The argument here is that even if they desired to go ahead with school, they would not have the money to pay their fees in the later stages. Or if they did, the children would never be gainfully employed afterwards, so they assume. 

Many times when you have a teenage pregnancy, the thinking is that should the perpetrator be prosecuted and jailed, the victim would be seriously disadvantaged in that they will not be able to look after the offspring.

They settle for the victim being married off to the perpetrator or let them be, provided they offer support to the young mother -and her relatives. 
There is no social safety net to provide for shelters or allowances to take care of this dilemma. 
Third, if you have an effectively functioning justice, law and order sector, the laws on the statute books would be enough to make anyone tempted to have sex with underage children, come to belief.

This, of course, will need a properly trained, facilitated and motivated police in the area of patiently investigating cases pertaining to sexual offences. The same applies to those manning the judiciary.

But now here we are. The State in Uganda exists and comes to life more efficiently when the government in power is threatened.

There will be water cannons, teargas canisters, batons and the works to disperse demonstrations and gatherings by the Opposition. These operations are prioritised and are fully funded with money from special budgets. 

Yet there is no transport and facilitation for witnesses who come forward to testify in cases of defilement and child sex. The police more often than not will side with the perpetrator or ask both parties to settle the matter out of court. 

The same police will find challenges putting out fire on a floor of a single building. Then on the other hand, it will stop a terrorist attack in its infancy and apprehend the culprits.
The weakness and selective presence plus absence of the State only serves to weaken society. Weak societies are easier for politicians to manipulate because the people are too engrossed in merely keeping alive to demand from those who hold power.

Teenage pregnancies in most cases lead to half literate mothers with no skills of their own to help them earn a living. 

They are desperate and live on handouts for their survival. They are likely to be in position to afford educating their own children to any meaningful level, which will leave them in the same situation as their mothers, which cycle persists. 

Desperate people are the staple food for politicians for they are the ones who will hold onto a lie as hope. 

It is an undermined state that creates this environment. Darkness and idleness only provide a conducive environment.

Twiter@ nsengoba