By:
May 15, 2021
KABALE– 2,467 teenage pregnancy have been registered in Kabale District for the period from March 2020 when the government instituted a lockdown to curb down the spread of the novel Coronavirus.
This was revealed by Muhumuza Monica the Kabale district probation officer asserting that her office was overwhelmed by huge numbers of child abuse cases including Teenage pregnancies, domestic violence, child neglect, trafficking in persons, aggravated defilement, defilement, theft.
Of the 2,467 cases, 231 were domestic violence, 206 were child neglect, 24 Trafficking in persons, 10 for juvenile injustice, 61 were aggravatedly defiled, 20 we’re defilonment, 15 were theft and 33 were child abandonment cases.
Muhumuza says that the trend has resulted into many young girls getting HIV/AIDS, abandonment of child after giving birth, school dropouts, neglect by the families, all of which have left numerous questions to the Authorities.
She attributed these cases to poor parenting where men have left all the responsibility of looking after families to women and poverty in some families which has made some of the children dropout of schools.
The Probation officer is concerned that women are currently playing a vital part in building family houses, paying school fees for the children, buying land and home utensils which clearly proves that men have failed to play their roles.
Muhumuza now wants parents to play their role of nurturing their children by making them know and fear God. She wants local leaders to make sensitization in teenagers about the dangers of early pregnancies as well as better parenting methods.
