Father, 40, arrested for attempting to marry off daughter, 14

Police in Apac District in Northern Uganda are holding a 40-year-old man arrested six days ago for attempting to marry off his 14-year-old daughter.
The suspect, a resident of Bardek “B” Cell, Bung Ward, Atik Division in Apac Municipality was arrested on Women’s Day (March 8) when police stormed his home where the ceremony was being held and rescued his teenage daughter, a primary four pupil. He’s currently detained at Apac Central Police Station as investigations continue, detectives said.

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 The arrest followed a tip off to police by a child rights activist in the area.
 The groom and other people who had gathered to witness the ceremony are said to have fled the scene when police arrived at the suspect’s home.

“We went to the scene but unfortunately we didn’t succeed in arresting the other culprits. We now have the father of the girl and investigations are ongoing. I am cautioning and appealing to people to desist from giving away underage girls who should have been at schools,” the District Police Commander, Mr David Wills Ndaula told this publication. 
Mr Sam Opira, the Apac secretary for education and health, condemned the act which he said is becoming common in the district. 
Last year, authorities in the district broke an intimate relationship between a 13-year-old girl and her 17-year-old boyfriend. 

The girl who was in primary five at Okutagwe Primary School in Teboke Sub-county, Apac District, had eloped with a former Primary Seven pupil of the same school.
However, when they started cohabiting, authorities swung into action and separated them.
Data obtained from the nine districts that make up Lango Sub-region indicated that more than 23,000 teenage girls visited the health facilities in the area for antenatal care services in 2021 alone.