Prime
Government to give Kampiringisa children’s home facelift
Children serve themselves with porridge at Kampiringisa child offenders’ home yesterday. Government had promised to rehabilitate the centre and improve staffing levels. PHOTO BY ABUBAKER LUBOWA
What you need to know:
Stretched. The street kinds rounded up and dumped at the centre put pressure on the existing basic amenities.
After assessing the appalling conditions child offenders at Kampiringisa National Rehabilitation Centre (KNRC) are subjected to, government has promised to give the facility a facelift and improve on the staffing levels.
While inspecting the centre yesterday, Ms Karooro Okurut, the minister for Gender, Labour and Social Development admitted that government has paid little attention to the juvenile detention centre, something that puts the lives of the offenders at risk.
“The situation at the centre needs urgent attention and my ministry is going to do whatever it takes it improve the living conditions of juvenile offenders here and give the buildings a facelift,” she said
The multiple buildings on the complex have not had a facelift for decades and most have walls with paint peeling off, broken windows and no bulbs for lighting.
The kitchen area located behind the administration block is managed by the children themselves.
The cooking stove doesn’t appear safe or hygienic and the fire is open and the cauldrons look too big for children to carry or clean safely.
The toilets are a few metres away but with overflowing sewage.
There is no adequate drainage around the food area or for cleaning the dining hall and flies hover around the food and the dining room floor with a punchy stench coming out .
In the dormitories, the mattresses are filthy and are often used by two or more children at a time with thread-bear and dirty blankets. A few beds have mosquito nets but they cannot serve the purpose since they have gaping holes.
To deal with the problem, Ms Karooro said she was going to talk to the health minister Ruhana Rugunda to secure mosquito nets for the centre as soon as possible.
“It is really disturbing to see that even the few mosquito nets are torn. But those are things we can easily get even tomorrow,” she said.
According to Mr Micheal Alule, the principal KNRC, they are challenged by the increasing number of child offenders especially street children who put much pressure on the existing basic amenities.
“Our main challenge are the street children. They are rounded up from the streets and dumped here when we have not planned for them. This has led to operational constraint and we pray that a solution is quickly sought,” he said.
THE NUMBERS
297: The number of juvenile inmates at Kampiringisa rehabilitation centre.
152: The number of juvenile inmates attending school.
33: The number of staff approved for the Centre.
17: The number of staff posted to the centre by government.
