Writer: Robert Kigongo. PHOTO/FILE
Ugandan Olympian Rebecca Cheptegei was at the weekend laid to rest at her home district of Bukwo after she succumbed to injuries she sustained following an attack by her former partner.The 33-year-old was doused in petrol by Dickson Ndiema Marangach and set alight as she returned from church with her two daughters and younger sister in the village of Kinyoro in Kenya.
The World Mountain and Trail Running Championships gold medallist could have been laid to rest, but her death has reopened a debate on an issue that Uganda has grappled with for a long time. The cruel death of Cheptegei reminds me of the endless cases of gender-based violence (GBV) that are reported almost daily by our mainstream and social media platforms.
While cases like that of an Olympian being set ablaze make it to prime-time news, unfortunately, hundreds of cases go unreported yet the victims bear the brunt of Barcoding to the National Survey on Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG), conducted by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (Ubos) and UN Women in 2020, about 95 percent of Ugandan women and girls had experienced physical or sexual violence, or both, by partners or non-partners since the age of 15.Government has over the years come up with pieces of legislation, such as the Domestic Violence Act, 2010, to protect the victims of domestic violence and provide for the punishment of perpetrators of the same.
But legislation alone is not taking us fast enough to end this problem. Several factors such as societal norms, gender stereotypes, patriarchies, poverty, illiteracy, land wrangles, poor mental health and alcoholism have been identified as the major causes of GBV in Uganda. The causes have been identified, but despite efforts from the government, civil society organisations and individuals, the cases don’t seem to be going down fast enough.
I think we should inject more energy into effecting behavioural change through the use of music, dance and drama. We can utilise the many creatives we have to send a message that preaches against GBV. Arts have a big impact on the human brain and behaviours have a big potential to communicate the message against gender-based violence. Arts impact our emotions, cognitive abilities, and even our mental health. Ugandan Aids activist Philly Bongoley Lutaaya used music to raise awareness about the disease and close to four decades later, his message still reverberates around the country.
His input is remembered whenever the account of Uganda’s early success story in the Aids fight is told. With the benefit of the multiple talented musicians and actors, we could have hundreds of Bongoley Lutaaya’s preaching against GBV. The government, United Nations, civil societies and media moguls should invest heavily in behavioural change through songs, movies, plays, and adverts towards ending GBV.Also, since men have always been singled out as the biggest perpetrators of GBV, they need to be involved when finding solutions to the problem. They need to be engaged more to find out why they behave the way they do.
Since some societal norms dictate that it is a man’s role to “discipline” his wife, imagine having influential men going around preaching to their colleagues against GBV. The corroborative of the creatives and men will go a long way in changing the societal norms that normalise GBV. It's only through such efforts that we can achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 to eliminate violence against women and girls. We don’t need to have any more Rebecca Cheptegeis dying because of violence against women.
Mr Kigongo is a sustainable development
analyst [email protected]
