Minister vows to deal with rapists, defilers head-on

“Mayuge has the highest rate of teenage pregnancies in Busoga Sub-region. Here, girls become pregnant between the age of 10 and 17 years and lately, these form the biggest percentage of mothers we have in the district,” Mr Kato said on Friday.

Mr Barugahara was in the area to launch a girls’ mentorship programme in Wante Village, Malongo Sub-county.

“Men in Mayuge District have now taken it as a job to defile and rape young children; but as long as I am still a Minister, I am not going to allow this happen, not only in Mayuge, but in Uganda,” Mr Barugahara said in response.

He noted that poverty in Busoga Sub-region is as a result of land fragmentation, but also because men are poor, they use their free time searching for young girls to defile.

Ms Josephine Omunyidde, the chief executive officer Engender, a girls’ mentorship organisation, said 48.5 percent of girls in Mayuge District deliver below 18 years, while 21 percent of those between the age of 15 and 19 years have begun bearing children.

Ms Omunyidde further disclosed that of the 34 percent teenage mothers in the district, 89 under the age of 14 years from one Sub-county (Malongo) were impregnated between 2020 and 2023.

The Wante Village LC1 chairman, Mr Jamar Magumba, however, attributed the high teenage pregnancies in Mayuge District to ‘high fertility of young girls’, saying: “Our girls are very fertile to an extent that they look for men and boys.”

Given that these overwhelming incidences are among school-going children, teenage pregnancy also deprives the victims of their right to education.

According to authorities, 35 percent of girls in the district lack education, 29 percent have attained primary education, 17 attained secondary education and 11 percent have studied beyond secondary.

Mayuge District Education Officer (DEO), Ms Jaria Nabirye, said they are struggling to curb the high rates of teenage pregnancies and school dropouts, which she says are affecting education and health targets.

“Mayuge is surrounded by water bodies and forests, but while a number of residents were depending on fishing and farming, they have been chased away from the forests and water bodies from where they practiced farming and fishing respectively, making them nomads,” she said.

Further still, she said the district lacks enough primary and secondary schools which is causing pupils to move long distances seeking for education.

“You look at the government policy of having a primary school in every parish and a secondary school per Sub-county and you sympathise with children because they trek long distances.

“It is in Mayuge District where you find a parish with over 20 villages but one primary school to which several children trek for long distances to study. It is also in Mayuge where parents send children to start Primary One aged 10 (years), arguing that a six-year-old child cannot walk long distances to seek education.” 

According to Ms Nabirye, several children in Mayuge District complete Primary Seven when they are 17 years old, while in other districts, a 17-year-old child will be completing Senior Six.

The Second Deputy Prime Minister and Mayuge District Woman Member of Parliament, Ms Lukia Nakadama, described as “unfortunate” that some parents collude with the defilers and receive bride price to marry off their underage daughters.

Statistics

Ms Nakadama said a World Bank study in 2017 projected that Uganda would save more than $3b by ending child marriages and reducing teenage pregnancies. By then, she said, it was projected that by delaying childbearing and increasing school completion rates, the earnings of child mothers would rise by an exponential $500 million.

That alone, she noted, should have spurred us on more to ensure that we protect more children from falling into the trap of child marriages and childbearing, noting that in 2021, the cost of inaction due to teenage pregnancy alone had risen to almost Shs2Tn. 

A 2020 joint study by United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the National Population Council (NPC) suggests that families of teenage mothers spent Shs1.28Tn on Sexual Reproductive Health Services, while the health facility expenditure on teenage mothers was estimated at Shs246.9b.