Parliament to tough law protecting children

By Francis Lubega

16^th June 2022

pic from UNICEF

As the country joins the rest of the world to mark the International Day of the African Child in Butaleja district, the Speaker of parliament Anita Among has promised to lead parliament in enacting stringent laws to protect children.

The speaker revealed this while responding to the petition from the children read by a 15 year old Gloria Alewo from Odeke Primary School in Omoro district who asked the speaker and the MPs to enforce the existing laws that protect children.

Alewo further appealed to the Speaker and parliament at large to appropriate more funds to the Ministry of Labor, Gender and Social Development so as to fight and end child marriages in the country and also to put up policies to ensure all children go to schools.

The Speaker of Parliament Annet Anita Among noted that Covid19 caused many children to drop out of schools most especially the girl child, many were defiled and others forced into early marriages.

Among also blamed the parents for not meeting their parental role noting that it has given the heartless men to defile and impregnate the young girls.

Margaret Makoha, the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Forum on Children who also doubles as Namayingo Woman MP noted that Uganda has got the highest number of teenage pregnancies in sub-Saharan Africa with over 25% pregnancies among teenagers registered every year.

Makoha further noted that many parents have denied their children the right to education by recruiting them into several work activities like sugar cane plantations, rice gardens and factories especially in Eastern Uganda noting that the government should rise up to end child labor.