The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Child and Family Protection Unit of the Police has raised concern over the increasing cases of missing children.
Caroline Kushemererwa, the Head of the Child and Family Protection Unit in Kampala Metropolitan Area says that many of the girls come from different parts of the country to work as maids.
According to Kushemererwa majority of the girls are aged between 9 to 15 years. She says that although the cases received by Police vary daily, at least a week they receive more than 10 cases.
Last week Old Kampala Police, Wandegeya Police Station, and the Central Police Station received 11 cases of maids who abandoned workplaces over alleged mistreatment.
Some of the underage girls are lured by their relatives promising them employment as maids in their homes.
Kushemererwa says that when the girls reach their places of work, they find the job tedious and abandon the home and go to the streets of Kampala where they are picked up and handed to the police.
According to Kushemererwa, the police will now be forced to charge parents for negligence when they are reunited with their children. She says many children, particularly those living in rural areas are being abandoned by their parents, denied school fees, and in extreme cases, denied access to food and shelter.
Brian Muliika of Raise Children’s Home in Mityana said that families in rural areas are faced with extreme poverty where parents are willing to give in their children to work as maids.
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