The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Butaleja, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Police in Butaleja district are holding a mother of a 14-year-old girl for conspiring with a 38-year-old man to marry her off. The suspects are Nadera Mariyati and Ali Guloba, a resident of Mwanswa village, Busaba sub-county, who married off the teenager.
According to police, Guloba married off the girl last week for a negotiated bride price of Shillings one million and paid Shillings 500,000 in cash. Bukedi South Region Police Spokesperson Moses Mugwe says that they have charged Guloba with aggravated defilement noting that the girl was rescued from the illegal marriage by police.
He says that they arrested the girl’s mother and are now hunting for her father who is still at large. Betty Nesihwe, the Butaleja District Senior Probation Officer told URN in an interview last month that several defilement cases are resolved by local council village leaders in connivance with the parents who want money and bride price.
She said that on average, the district registers five cases of defilement and teenage related marriages per week noting that the Butaleja people only know defilement when it results in a pregnancy.
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