Hundreds of stakeholders gathered in Kitswamba town council yesterday 8th December 2023 to commemorate 16 days of activism against gender based violence.
16 days of Activism is a global campaign to call for an end to violence against Women and Girls. The campaign runs every year from 25th November, the international day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, to 10 December which is a Human rights day.
Kasese is among the highly ranked districts in Uganda in gender based violence and Kitswamba town council where the commemoration event took place is ranked second in the district in teenage pregnancies.
The commemoration event organized by Kasese District Local Government and Partners was presided over by the Deputy RDC in charge of Busongora Mr.Mubingwa Zephanus and attended by different stakeholders including district and Subcounty political and technical leaders.
While addressing the people, Mr. Mubingwa Zephanus, seriously condemned the habit of assaulting wives and abandoning children which was reported to be on the rise in Kitswamba Town council.
He called upon husbands to love and protect their wives. The deputy RDC referred to the bible which says that whoever finds the wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from God.
He emphasized the need for the community to work towards building peace and adding value to their families, community and the world.
A number of GBV survivors gave their tear-jerking experiences of going through different forms of gender based violence and added to the voice of other stakeholders to call for the end of violence against women and girls. . Among them was Biira Michealine a 17 year old girl who was abandoned by her father over a misunderstanding between her mother and her father. Michealine narrated how her father denied her a chance to go to school because he believed that she was not his biological child.
Machealine is among thousands of children who are experiencing different forms of gender based violence in Kasese district as reported by the senior Community Development officer, Mrs. Asiimwe QueenGonda
The deputy Chief Administrative officer Mr. Begumya Ntarwete Eliab appreciated development partners in kasese for supplementing efforts of government in bid to end gender based violence.
He asked all stakeholders to come together and fight stumbling blocks to efforts of partners and government in ending reducing GBV in Kasese.
The District Chairperson, Mr Muhindi Bukombi Erifaz encouraged the people of Kistwamba to invest in taking their children to school as a sustainable investment. He also emphasized the need for husbands to use peaceful dialogues to solve issues in their families than using violence.
