Africa-Press – Uganda. BY AMOS NGWOMOYA
KAMPALA. Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) with support from non-governmental organisations yesterday evacuated a total of 160 children from Kampala streets. The aim is to cushion them from Covid-19 and rehabilitate them before they can be reunited with their families. The children underwent Covid-19 testing at Nakivubo Blue Primary School and will later be sent to rehabilitation centres.KCCA deputy director of gender and community services Josephine Lubwama said the children were being exposed to various problems on the streets including sexual abuse, scorching sunshine, and motor accidents, among others, which put their health at risk. “After rehabilitation, we will link them to vocational centres from where they can get skills to improve their livelihood,” Ms Lubwama said.Asked why children return to streets yet the government has previously rehabilitated them, Ms Lubwama attributed the problem to domestic violence in homes. However, some children alleged that some of the caretakers in rehabilitation homes mistreat them. The director of operations at Dwelling Places, Ms Moreen Muwonge, dismissed the claims of mistreatment of children in rehabilitation homes, saying they teach caretakers to handle the latter with care since they have different behaviour. “These children come with different behaviour and we try as much as possible to change them. However, this is done gradually because we are dealing with children who were raised differently,” Ms Muwonge said.She added: “Some of them use drugs, force and abusive language. So we try as much as possible to reorganise them when they join the rehabilitation homes.”Joel Ssenabulya, 16, one of the evacuated children, said he was compelled to go on the street due to poverty at home. He said they only ate once a day and his mother couldn’t singlehandedly bankroll his education. “When my friends interested me in staying on the streets, I had no option but to join them because they used to give me some money which they claimed was from the scrap which they sold,” Ssenabulya said. He added: “If KCCA equips us with vocational skills as promised then It will enable me to start my own business and support my mother and siblings.”
2019 KCCA ordinance
In 2019, KCCA passed the Child Protection Ordinance 2019 to enhance child protection and control the influx of street children.
By the ordinance, any child found loitering in a place such as a bar, restaurant, market, business or practising commercial sex will be rescued and handled by the council or probation and welfare officer.
Anybody found giving money or food to a child on Kampala streets risks imprisonment of not less than six months or pay a fine of Shs40,000.
Similarly, any parent or guardian, who neglects his or her child and allows him or her to loiter in the street, bar or restaurant, risks imprisonment of not less than six months or pay a fine of Shs40,000. However, this Ordinance is yet to be approved by the Attorney General.
