FIRST READ; Tele-Evangelist Lifestyles
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Don’t Karimojong children have rights too?
http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/Letters/-/806314/866752/-/2ug1pgz/-/index.html
Posted Tuesday, February 23 2010 at 00:00
When you walk on the streets of Kampala, your conscience gets pricked by the young Karimojong children begging from passersby. What is more hurting is the fact that some of these children are forced into this despicable act by their so-called mothers.
The children are forced to stretch their hands towards potential donors. When the child is handed a coin, the mother appears from nowhere, picks the money before she vanishes again. These poor children sometimes get tired and dose only to be woken up by slaps. Sometimes flies jam their lips, eyes and faces. The poor kids get too exhausted to even disperse the flies.
Can you imagine that such violation of children’s rights is taking place in a country where we are bragging of having domesticated the Convention on the Rights of Children (CRC)? Can you imagine that few metres away from such scenes of crime, we have offices of the Uganda Human Rights Commission, the National Council for Children, the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, the Parliament, the Judiciary, Central Police Station, Ministry of Ethics and Integrity as well as State House?
Can you imagine that some of the senior executives of human rights NGOs such as Federation of Uganda Women Lawyers, Akina Maama wa ‘Uganda’ and Centre for Domestic Violence Prevention drive on these streets in their luxurious vehicles, but pretend not to see these children? When a female victim of domestic violence cuts off the private parts of her abuser, women rights organisations shower her with congratulatory messages, but when Karimojong mothers are subjecting their children to child-labour and torture, these human rights defenders close their ears. This is hypocrisy.
This case is indicative of the discrimination against our Karimojong brothers and sisters. It seems that our once popular adage “We cannot wait for the Karamoja to develop’’ has been adjusted to read “we cannot allow the Karimojong to enjoy human rights because they are not human’’.
Shame upon this nation, shame upon us for thinking that homosexuality is the only terrible crime.
Kizito Michael George, kizitomg@gmail.com
Legislator slaps beggar over child abuse
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/12/720638
Monday, 24th May, 2010
By Patrick Jaramogi
THERE was drama at the Kampala Central Police Station (CPS) yesterday when the Kasese Woman MP Winifred Kiiza slapped a Karimojong beggar during a press briefing.
Kiiza was at the Police station to report a case against Edward Smith, alias Ali Mubarak, over attempting to con her of sh50m in a fake gold deal.
But she turned her attention on Lukiyo Agino, a 23-year-old Karimojong girl, who was arrested over child abuse.
The drama unfolded when the Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson, Henry Kalulu, dragged in Lukiyo along with a malnourished two-year-old child she was using as bait to get money from sympathisers.
“This lady has been arrested in connection with torturing this innocent child. She has been using this child to solicit cash in the streets. This is child abuse,” said Kalulu. “And the worst part of it all is that the child is not even hers,” Kalulu explained
The child belongs to Lokwere Mongesi, another Karimojong woman who was already under Police custody.
The MP, who was seated next to Kalulu during the press briefing, walked towards Lukiyo who was seated about three metres away.
“Why do you subject this child to such acts?” asked Kiiza.
The legislator demanded to know whether Lukiyo knew the pains of childbirth.
Lukiyo, who apparently did not understand the question, laughed instead, angering the MP further. This prompted her to swing a slap into her face, sending the journalists into laughter.
”Mwongere (slap her more),” some journalists shouted.
Lukiyo started crying as the furious MP added another slap before she was blocked from landing another whack.
Lukiyo was then whisked away by the Police to another room.
Kalulu declined to state whether Kiiza would be reprimanded for assaulting a suspect in Police custody. He instead said the two Karimojong women would face charges of child neglect.
Several Karimojong children beg on various streets in the city. Efforts to take them off the streets have so far failed. When the city council rounds them up, they somehow reappear after a few weeks. The council says the children are ferried back by “unfriendly” people.
Meanwhile, the Police are holding the Asian man over trying to extort money from the Woman MP. Edward Smith was nabbed in Parliament just as he was to about rip Kiiza of $25,000 (sh50m).
He had allegedly promised the MP ‘gold’ worth sh50m, which she would sell for about sh70m and make a profit of sh20m.
Smith, whom the Police showed to journalists yesterday, reportedly belongs to a city gang carrying out “intellectual robbery.”
Smith’s mother is Egyptian, while the father is from Yemen but the son says he is a Ugandan of Asian origin, the Police disclosed.
The gang, according to Kalulu, has been engaged in extortion rackets, targeting leading businessmen and politicians.
“We have a case of a leading businessman who was conned of sh1b early this year by this ‘muzungu’ after he promised him gold. The businessman (name withheld) had to sell his prime land and get bank loans to sustain his business,” said Kalulu.
Also arrested were three other people over trying to con Geoffrey Anouk, a city businessman, of sh36m. John Mugisa, Daniel Okot from Gulu and Abubaker Masaba from Busia were arrested from Quality Super Market in Old Kampala.
“They tricked Anouk that they had brought him gold. But when he checked the polythene bag, it contained a packet of glucose biscuits and juice,” Kalulu said.
In the same swoop, George William Kasirivu, the manager of a Kasirex Company Limited, was also arresrted. Kasirivu, who once worked in Iraq as a guard, is allegedly behind the theft of money from over 300 Ugandans who were working in Iraq.
“He was smart and evaded the Police like Osama Bin Laden does. He doesn’t board cars and walks between midnight and 5:00am. But we finally pounced on him,” said Kalulu.
Kasirivu, dressed in a dark blue suit, looked composed as journalists took his picture. He even smiled during the interaction.
He is accused of obtaining sh750m from the Ugandans, promising them jobs in Afghanistan.
“He was smart. He personally called these innocent boys from Iraq and sent them e-mails. The boys were earning $700 (sh1.4m in Iraq) but he promised them $3,000 (sh6m) for jobs in Afghanistan. The boys saw this as a lucrative deal and abandoned their Iraq jobs,” explained Kalulu.
He said once they jetted into the country, Kasirivu asked his “prey” to deposit sh2.5m into his Stanbic Bank in Lugogo.
“After getting their money, he engaged a cat-and-mouse game, shifting offices daily from Mengo, Kajjansi, Ntinda, Lugazi, Natete and Nsambya,” said
Kasirivu’s lack ran out when some of his new clients called him, promising him more money on Saturday.
“As he rushed to pick the money, his older clients had mobilised and handed him over to the Police,” he said.
Kasirivu faces up to seven years in prison if convicted of obtaining money by false pretence. The Police have urged people who were promised jobs in Iraq by Kasirivu to report to CPS.
Where men are kings and women, mere vessels
http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/Insight/-/688338/923976/-/7v6yr5/-/index.html
By DAVID MAFABI
Posted Monday, May 24 2010 at 00:00
A young woman with a weary look sits at the doorstep of a crumbling manyatta in Lolochat.
Her exhaustion typifies the misery faced by thousands of women in Karamoja sub-region where the tradition does not give them an opportunity to be heard.
“Life is hard for us here as women. Whereas men find solace on their stools, women are expected to go to the gardens to look for food, if the huts (manyattas) leak, we are expected to repair besides building them but amidst all this you are not supposed to attend clan/village meetings and are not expected to divorce even when your husband does not want you anymore. In this tradition, men are kings,” said Ms Anna Ayopo.
Although the country is waiting for the Domestic Relations Bill, Ms Ayopo says the Karimojong, a cluster of culturally related people is stuck strongly to their traditional and cultural values governed by the traditional justice system that has seen many a woman oppressed, many a people hanged for committing petty crimes and others jailed in a pit dug in the ground as punishment.
“The issue here is not whether it is good or not for women, but as long as men deem it good. And this explains why defilement is not an issue here and even as I speak to you, I am not safe,” says Ms Ayopo.
Karimojong women, who are not allowed to attend clan meetings but must stay away and be communicated to by the men, have been victims of domestic violence. The situation is grave and there is widespread agitation for change in the attitudes, laws and social values which have combined to keep Karimojong women in agony.
In Karamoja, victims of domestic violence have concussions, bruises, broken bones, permanent damage to joints, hearing and vision impairment, miscarriages, complicated deliveries, still birth and rupture of internal organs, among others.
Apparently, despite its gravity amongst a section of the Karimojong who have gone to school, domestic violence is by far the most hidden social crime in the sub-region.
Whereas it is hidden due to the social values attached to men-women relations where men are perceived to be supreme beings in the sub-region, the constitution of Uganda and international conventions which Uganda has ratified clearly relate men and women as equal partners. This is not true in Karamoja sub-region where tradition rules.
Mr Michael Edikoi, the head of Nakapiripirit District’s community based services says although women have been speaking about emanicipation, empowering the ordinary women to engage with public policy to ensure that their needs are catered for in local government programmes, in Karamoja it is not known and women have remained at the mercy of the men.
He revealed that apart from thinking about cattle, the Karimojong are reluctant to participate in activities for positive change and that the girls resent formal education for cultural and traditional reasons.
“And many of the Karimjong view formal education as a means of interfering with their lifestyle and attitude. This explains why there are low numbers of enrolment in formal schools within Karamoja sub-region even with government free education for all in primary and secondary schools,” said Mr Edikoi.
He revealed that Karimojong girls are kept at home to help in domestic chores and to also prepare them for marriage in a cultural way which makes her fetch a high bride price, usually up to 60 head of cattle.
Mr Felix Oroma, an advocate at the centre for legal assistance in Karamoja says because of its remoteness many Karimajongs still live traditional lifestyles governed by traditional rules and customs.
Mr Aroma who has started Karimoja Law Chambers in Nakapiriprit, the first of its kind, has opted to serve his people within the same region. He is the first person to try to disrupt the traditional judicial system that has persisted in Karamoja for over 100 years.
He heads daily for the villages with local NGO, Association for World Education (Uganda Chapter) that is involved in changing the lifestyle of the Karimojong through preaching rule of law and democracy to teach human rights, emancipation of women, and the constitution; all strange ideals to the traditional Karimojong.
“I appreciate and have interest in our traditions and customs because they are the preserve of our historical link but I am determined at the same time to help my people change to the modern judicial system so that human rights can be respected here,” says Aroma.
Karamoja bears brunt of poverty
http://www.monitor.co.ug/SpecialReports/-/688342/918144/-/fvs4vx/-/index.html
By Katherine Haywood
Posted Saturday, May 15 2010 at 00:00
For decades, progress has eluded the Karamoja sub-region, home to a cluster of different tribal and ethnic groups, leaving it desperately poor. With conditions so hard to bear, residents have opted for different survival measures, writes Saturday Monitor’s Katherine Haywood.
A group of dusty villagers wearing the colourful but faded traditional wraps of the proud Karamojong stand barefoot in the mud listening to the new law of the land. “Any Ugandan adult has the right to move wherever they like in the country,” a probation officer announced to the crowd of bony adults and pot-bellied toddlers, in the guttural language of the Bokora tribe. “But you need a letter from your local leader if you want to transport your children out of the region. If you transport someone else’s child you will be arrested.”
This is Naitabwei village, a pitiful speck in the vast, barren plains of Moroto District, Karamoja region, North Eastern Uganda. After trying to leave, nine children between the ages of one and 13, and three mothers, have just been returned here by police escort, apprehended at a remote police station in Iriri, on the Karamoja- Katakwi border. “My family are hungry but digging the fields here is useless, so I thought I would move away to earn some money or food,” said Nanga Martina, 38, who was travelling with her two young children three-year-old Lowal and one-year-old Lokwi to look for casual work in the cassava fields in Siroti, a neighbouring district.
No progress
In several development and economic indicators, Uganda has been forging ahead. But for decades, progress has eluded this part of the country, home to a cluster of different tribal and ethnic groups, leaving it desperately poor. UNOCHA, in its Consolidated Appeal for Uganda 2010, said, “Karamoja remains saddled with the humanitarian consequences of chronic under-development,” with limited livelihood options and negligible basic services. At least 900,000 people in the region are facing severe food insecurity due to consecutive rain failure and poor harvests over four years, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network announced last month.
Insecurity is also a push factor for these traditional herdsmen, with a culture of cattle rustling: Rampant armed violence has been aggravated with a combination of a limited justice system, competition amongst tribes for natural resources, and prevalence of illegal weapons. The Ugandan army has achieved a measure of stability with a far reaching disarmament programme, but progress has been uneven and there are still frequent reports of raids and killings.
Recently deserted homesteads of mud huts dot the landscape, their characteristic thorny perimeter fences little comfort against a live AK47. But since January this year, over 200 Karamojong, mainly from the Bokora in Moroto, have been stopped and returned to this unforgiving environment.
Officials say it is a humanitarian response to stem the flow of destitute Karamojong children onto the harsh streets of the capital Kampala and other cities to beg. “On the streets the young are not cared for. They are exploited for their ability to earn rather than attending school, girls are exploited sexually, they risk accidents from passing vehicles, their living quarters are unsafe,” said Ms Florence Kirabira, the acting head of the Child and Family Protection Unit, Uganda Police Force. The implication is that they are better off at home.
There’s no clear data on the number of out-migrants from Karamoja, but a study by German NGO ASB in 2009 found that numbers have increased in recent years. Their findings support the thesis that migrant Karamojong face poor, unsafe and unsanitary living conditions. The Feinstein International Centre at Tufts University in 2007 found an increasing trend of young people out-migrating alone to work for people with whom their families have no pre-established relations, which may suggest heightened precariousness. And there have been some incidences of direct exploitation. “Migration is being commercialised and children deployed by certain individuals who take advantage of desperate communities," said Scp Grace Turyagumanawe, the co-ordinator of Re-establishing Law and Order in Karamoja.
There have been no prosecutions for child trafficking, but last month three women and one man were charged with ‘kidnapping from lawful guardianship’ because of their suspected link to several unaccompanied teenage girls and a nine-year-old boy who were travelling in the recently blocked vehicle. However, most commentators agree that the majority of children leave with their parents or relatives, or at least with their parent’s consent.
Maria Nichiyo, 13, from Nakwakwa village, Iriri Sub-county, provides an example of the dangers that can await young migrants. Last year her mother urged her to travel to Kampala with a woman from a neighbouring village because of the lack of food and insecurity. She intended to earn some money begging, capitalising on her lame leg for pity, and return to her village.
The Shs20,000 ($5) maximum a day she could earn was far above anything achievable in Karamoja, but the woman took her earnings. “I was left with nothing. I would have to hang around the dustbins looking for scraps of food. Sometimes I wouldn’t eat at all. At least here you get some greens,” she said. These are types of stories the probation officer relates to the ragged crowd back in Naitabwei village. “Instead a child should be in school, in familiar surroundings” insisted the probation worker.
The message was received intently amid murmurs of revelation and understanding. “It is our mistake,” said one tall, lean woman, green and red beads around her neck, her dusty hair in knots. “We are sorry.”
But the mood quickly turned fractious when the officials began to leave. “You have talked a lot but have you brought food?” heckled on woman. Another picked some weeds from the red/ black earth and signaled that it was her only source of nourishment. Growing angrier, she pulled her withered breast from her torn top – a stark demonstration that she could not feed her baby.
As such, there is concern in several quarters with the human rights implications of preventing poor and hungry people seeking a brighter alternative within their own country. No other ethnic group is subject to travel restrictions in Uganda.
One support worker confided that she had returned two teenagers back to a village where some elderly people had just died from starvation. “It is a fine line between people’s rights to movement and the protection of the young,” said Agnes Karani, UNICEF’s child protection specialist for Moroto.
Tufts University senior researcher Elizabeth Stites said while Karamojong out-migrants do face difficulties at their destination, it is important to remember that "seasonal migration for the semi-nomadic Karamojong has long been an integral coping mechanism appropriate to the environment". But Mr Moses Subbi, the senior district probation and social welfare officer, insists the initiative is in response to repeated community requests for assistance, which were crystallised in a district-wide consultative workshop with village elders in December.
The road block is not permanent, but mostly activated by local tip-offs that several children are leaving. “It is intelligence-led,” said Mr Subbi, “we work with the cooperation of local communities.”
Certainly, touring the scattered villages, the response is generally in favour of a mechanism by which out-migration by children, even with their guardians, is controlled. But it is always qualified by the need to couple such actions with support back in the place of origin.
Checkpoint
“The police checkpoint is a good idea because Kampala is dangerous,” said Paul Ngorok, the local chairman of Locitel village, Locopoi Sub-county, Moroto, which has seen a lot of out-migration in recent years. “But the government and NGOs should give us support so those returned don’t just leave again,” he adds, citing food, seeds, a horse, and agricultural implements as useful inputs.
Aid agencies are in agreement.
“Is Kampala the problem, or is it the solution? The problem is right here in Karamoja,” said Federico Soranzo, Karamoja co-ordinator for Co-operation and Development, one of the longest established NGOs in the region, which has been working on water and food-related interventions for 30 years, and provides a well-established child protection unit, funded by UNICEF, and in turn DfID.
For the last three years C&D has been supporting the local government respond to a national programme of returning children and some adults from the streets of Kampala, back to their villages in Karamoja, by providing development assistance for the returnees.
