The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Bududa, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Nabweya health centre II in Nabweya sub county Bududa district registered a huge number of teenage pregnancies between July and December last year. A recent study by Bududa district health office shows that 178 out of the 330 cases of pregnancies registered at Nabweya health Centre II involved teenage mothers.
Nabweya health facility has a catchment population of 13,346. Betty Mukyala, the Assistant Bududa District Health Officer and the in-charge of maternal and child health says that they have tried to sensitise leaders with the hope of reducing teenage pregnancies but they don’t seem to care.
She explains that despite organising a number of community dialogues with the parents and leaders to end the vice, nothing has yielded results. Mike Kigai, the in-charge Nabweya health centre II attributes the high cases of teenage pregnancies to the laxity by parents to counsel their children.
He says parents have turned their children into the business, something that has promoted teenage pregnancies in the area. Irene Namono, one of the teenage mothers told Uganda Radio Network that she was interested in studying, but couldn’t proceed because her parents failed to provide for her school needs like books and pens, saying they did not have money.
“Because I had nothing to do I decided to look for a boy to stay with,” she said. However, the Bududa district LC V chairperson Yonasan Bululu blames police for fueling defilement cases in the communities by conniving with the suspects to settle matters outside court. He says the conduct of police will not end the vice.
Moses Wambete, the Bushgai town council youth councillor also accuses police of playing the mediation role with defilers instead of prosecuting them. Benah Namono, the Focal Person, Sexual, and Gender-Based Violence champion, says police have often bungled up cases of defilement, which is fueling teenage pregnancies.
She cites a case where a 25-year-old teacher defiled a 14-year-old girl but the matter was silenced by the police, the parents of the girl and the perpetrator. She says that they are finding it hard to address the problem because whenever they try to intervene, the local authorities see them as the problem.
Bududa District Police Commander Hillary Nuwahereza has dismissed the allegations levelled against the force, saying they are intended to paint police in a bad image. He instead says parents often agree with the defilers to defeat justice.
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