Kasese grapples with rise in number of child mothers

File photo

Through out the world, marriage is regarded as a moment of celebration and a milestone in adult life. Sadly, as this story shows, the practice of early marriage gives no such cause for celebration as many girls are losing out on their education.

Many young girls are suffering due to early marriage. The imposition of a marriage partner upon a child means a girls childhood is cut short and their fundamental rights such as education are compromised.

In this two part feature, we look at the prevalence of child and forced marriages in Kasese district.

Kasese is one of the districts with the highest early and forced marriage prevalence rates in Uganda. Atleast every family in Kasese district has a girl who was either defiled or conceived as a teenager, according to a report on early marriages released by ISIS, an international women organization.

The report casts a dark shadow on the plight of girls aged between 13 and 17 years, who according to the report are prized assets for parents hungry for dowry.

A survey carried out by Life fm reporter in Maliba and Mukunyu Sub-counties found out that some girls ended up in early marriages because of their parents’ greed for money and defilement by retail traders.

Mbambu Milly, 16 is a young mother from Maliba Sub-county who was forced to get married at 13 years after being impregnated by a 28 year old man. Mbambu was in p7 by then.

“I was impregnated when I was 13, am now having two children. When I was impregnated my parents said they cannot allow me to stay at home with that pregnancy. They said I shold find elsewhere to go and cater for my pregnancy” Mbambu narrates her story

This young girl was approached by a prominent retail trader who promised to support her with everything she needed in life. And yes, she gave herself in. But things have not turned out the way she expected.

“The problem was parents couldn’t give me enough materials so that’s what forced me to find a man to give me something. When they sent me away from home, I went to my man and started staying with him. But I have experienced a lot of problems in this home. He beats me a lot and does not give me anything including food sometimes. Although he has taken me back to school, it is not enough because am suffering” She adds

Mbambu is not alone. Though lucky, most girls here don’t have a second chance to go to school after child birth. Masika Jane, 18, a mother of four children was impregnated at the age of 12 while in primary 6 and forced to get married immediately.

“When I see people who are educated, I admire them and that’s why I want to go back to school. I don’t want my child to suffer like me” Masika says

At Maliba primary school in Maliba sub-county, atleast ten pupils drop out of school every year because they either got pregnant or married off by their parents.

Opolot Harriet, the school head teacher says the administration has done its best to fight the practice in vain.

“The girls are driven to get married. They are just driven because the parents want to become rich, provided the girl has started her monthly periods she can be forced to get married. Some of them get married as early as 12. There’s one I know who was married off just last month. She is only 12” Says Opolot

At Kisoho Primary school in Mukunyu Sub County, 3 girls were married off in October last year while 2 were discovered pregnant at the start of term 3, the last term of the school academic year. These were in p7 and 6 respectively. The school head teacher Masereka Thomas says that when teachers went to the homes of the girls to demand that they return to school the parents threatened to hurt them.

“One of the ways we thought could help was to engage the parents and sensitize them on the dangers of early marriage and on the importance of education. We have talked to them in PTA meetings, in different forums but there is no change. It is alarming three girls were married off last month. We have evidence. We even know the men who married them. All of them were in p7” Masereka says.

“Now that aside, pregnancies. As we speak 2 p6 pupils are at home because they are pregnant. But the main problem is with parents. They don’t believe in educating girls, they believe in marriage. We had a very bright and promising girl in p6 who was married off in April this year. We sent a team of four teachers to talk to the parents but the father wanted to fight them off. So the problem is with parents and the police because we have reported many cases to police but it’s like they connive with the parents. They will not do anything. You will follow them up until you get tired” he adds

According to Grace Malitha, the acting district inspector of schools, 4 to 5 girls in every school both primary and secondary are reported pregnant every term. Last year alone, over 100 girls dropped out of school. These were reportedly defiled and married off by their parents.

“we have visited some primary and secondary schools but the feedback we have got from the schools, the stakeholders and the children themselves, you really get disturbed. Every term every secondary school looses up to a minimum of 4 girls to early marriages and teenage pregnancies” Says Malitha

The officer in charge of the police child and family protection unit at Kasese police station, Kathembo Wilson observes that many parents in the district look at their daughters as a source of wealth, a mentality he said has made it difficult to fight defilement.

Police spokesperson, Bakari Bashir says their efforts are always held back by parents, the sole beneficiaries of all this. He says in some cases, police only gets to know when a couple has failed to agree.

“The moment you bring it to the attention of the CID, they will disappear , you will never see them again. so it really becomes a challenge on our side” Bakari says

Bwambale Kisugu is one of the parents whose daughter was defiled and ran away from home. She returned home after one and half year’s and her father was forced to marry her off.

Several other parents’ are dying silently with some saying they have lost trust in police. These however blame the rising rates of poverty accusing fellow parents of marrying off their daughters to amass wealth.

However, the number of cases of married off girls could be higher than the ones reported since many unregistered cases go unnoticed.

Other areas such as Kabarole, Kamwege and Ntoroko districts have also been grappling with early marriages. However, the community seems to be moving slowly to curb the practice there, as many are unaware of its dangers.

According to the universal declaration of human rights, early and forced marriage is a violation of human rights. It denies girls their right to health, education, to live in security and to choose when and whom to marry.

In our next segment, we explore the negative consequences that child marriage has on the lives of children.