100 mothers sentenced to community service
More than 100 Karimojong mothers were on February 22, 2024 sentenced to one month of community service over sending their children to beg or solicit alms in public places. Photo | Abubaker Lubowa
What you need to know:
- Grade One Magistrate Edgar Karakire also ordered the group to be sent back for rehabilitation in Napak, their home district. The women had pleaded guilty to the charge of sending their children to beg for alms on the streets
The Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) court has sentenced a group of more than 100 Karimojong mothers to one month of community service.
Grade One Magistrate Edgar Karakire also ordered the group to be sent back for rehabilitation in Napak, their home district. The women had pleaded guilty to the charge of sending their children to beg for alms on the streets.
“The case is rampant. I have listened to their cries and a [jail] sentence would be inappropriate. I have to enforce a deterrent sentence ... I will sentence them to community service. In default, you will serve one month of imprisonment. You are also banned from coming back to Kampala,” Mr Karakire ruled.
The prosecution led by Mr Hillary Musiimenta said sending a child to beg or solicit for alms in a public place is contrary to the KCCA Child Protection Ordinance, 2022, and carries a maximum sentence of six months or a fine of two currency points (about Shs40,000). A currency point is equivalent to Shs20,000.
About the law
The KCCA Child Protection Ordinance, 2022, criminalises children loitering in public places, begging or soliciting, vending or hawking and bans the sale of alcohol and drugs to children.
The mothers, who carried their babies when they first appeared in court on January 30, were remanded to Luzira Prisons in Kampala after they denied the charge. But when they reappeared yesterday, they pleaded guilty to the charge.
The mothers then cried out to the court for mercy, saying they had not wasted the court’s time and resources on a prolonged trial but the court paid a deaf ear.
They also asked to be helped and sent back to Napak in order to start a new life together with their children.
The summits marked Uganda’s largest high-level events since the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) in 2007 at the same venue.
background
The KCCA law enforcement officers had arrested the women in a swoop during their campaign to rid the city streets of beggars in preparation for the recently concluded conferences of Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth from January 3 to 6, the Non-Aligned Movement summit from January 15 to 20, and G77+China summit from 21 to 22, held at the Commonwealth Resort in Munyonyo, Kampala.
