Prime
New Bunyoro parliament vows to end child abuse
Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom officials take oath in Hoima Town at the weekend. PHOTO BY FRANCIS MUGERWA
Hoima- The Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom parliament has endorsed a resolution aimed at tracking violation of children’s rights.
The sitting, presided over by speaker Isaac Kalembe, agreed to set up a data base to track human rights violations of children and to sensitise communities about the importance of respecting and promoting the rights of children.
The resolution was endorsed shortly after the inauguration of the Orukurato (the new kingdom parliament) by the Omukama of Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom, Dr Solomon Gafabusa Iguru I, at the weekend.
At the inauguration ceremony, the World Vision Uganda, an international child-focused NGO, made a presentation on the status of children’s well-being in the kingdom.
According to their findings, children in Bunyoro face several violations, which include sexual abuse, early marriages, child trafficking, denial of school midday meals, corporal punishments, bullying and emotional violence.
Rights violations
“The well-being of children in Uganda and Bunyoro in particular continues to be undermined by subjecting children to different forms of violations. Unchecked violations against children will result in poor performances at schools, disease burdens such as HIV and fistula as well as inter- generational poverty. Infact, World Bank projected the cost of child marriage at $3 billion by 2030,” said Mr John Muchope, the World Vision Uganda education specialist.
In 2017, World Vision Uganda launched a campaign dubbed ‘It takes a world campaign to end all forms of violence against children’.
The five-year campaign is aimed at contributing towards freedom of all forms of violation for an estimated six million children.
This will be achieved through influencing policy implementation, advocacy for increased budget allocation for child protection and positive behavior change by stakeholders towards children.
Responsibilities
The kingdom parliament is charged with endorsing work plans, budgets and the kingdom’s development projects. The 107-member parliament was inaugurated at Rukurato hall in Hoima town.
The members of parliament, who were appointed by the king, took the oath of secrecy and allegiance.
The new parliament has a representative from each sub-county in Bunyoro and each county has one representative for the king’s subjects who live in diaspora.
“This is a unique parliament because it has skilled people who are drawn from various communities and whose constituencies represent each sub-county and the king’s subjects who are in diaspora. It is as representative as possible,” Bunyoro Kingdom prime minister Andrew Byakutaga said.
Mr Byakutaga said the new parliament has a duty of promoting and preserving culture, passing work plans, budgets, policies and key projects of the kingdom that target to improve the social-economic welfare of the Banyoro.
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