MPs want action taken against Karamoja child traffickers

KAMPALA – Members of Parliament hailing from Karamoja sub-region have demanded that the  government takes stern action against groups and individuals who are child traffickers.

The Members say, there is need for a clamp down on child traffickers who they say are all widely known and responsible for the many children on streets of all major cities in the country.

Most streets of Kampala, Jinja, Iganga, Mbale, Soroti and Mukono are littered with children and women from Karamoja, who beg for money, food and other kind of favors from revelers.

An investigative media report in 2019 revealed that the children are contracted to collect a certain figure every day, which is reported to the trafficker, before they are given a meagre share of the same.

The traffickers are reportedly responsible for the accommodation of the children and women, while feeding is solely taken up by the beggar.

The legislators say, trafficking of children from Karamoja is taking a significant toll on the region, in terms of production, survival and development.

Napak MP Faith Nakut says, her constituency hardly have any children remaining due to the vice.

“In Napak district, there are actually no children. Apparently, parents think there is good life in Kampala,” She said.

Nakut was speaking before the Committee on Gender, Labour and Social Development, which is handling a motion for the government to respond to the plight of Karamojong children enslaved forced labour.

The Executive Director of ‘In Need Home’, an NGO working on resettling street children from Karamoja, Tumwesigye Michael told the Committee that parents in Karamoja are being pushed into ‘renting’ their children into street begging due to poverty and hunger at home.

“We found out that most of these children are borrowed. Those people with children on the streets are not their actual mothers. They borrow children and, in the evening, pay some money to the parents,” said Tumwesigye.

Tumwesigye implored the government to be concerned that most of the children are mistreated by their supposed employers, including sexual abuse.

Bokora County MP, John Bosco Ngoya said, besides parents, there are Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) that are simply making money under the guise of helping street children.

“Maybe there is business in street children and it seems to have reached the apex; there are rackets; there is actually somebody making a killing out of this. There are NGOs which have been created for this cause,” said Ngoya.

The MPs also decried the action of Kampala Capital City Authority arresting the children randomly and dumping them in Kampiringisa remand home.

The Legislators say, the practice is inhumane and so traumatizing, yet the children are already disadvantaged.

The Committee has also implored the government to investigate the actions of some Non-Government Organizations that seem to operate in Karamoja with ultra-motives to promote child labor and trafficking.

The Committee is expected to produce a report on the same and advice on the actions against the issue.

On some occasions, these children on the streets have been seen turning violent while some indulge in criminal activities including theft and prostitution.

The Committee Chairperson, Flavia Kabahenda noted that violence against children is a growing factor in communities that needs to be nipped in the bud.

https://thecooperator.news/police-on-the-spot-over-rising-number-of-criminal-gangs-in-gulu/

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