One thousand young girls in Kamuda sub-county in Soroti district have been impregnated by road constructors in the region.
The Deputy Coordinator of the Trafficking in Persons Department at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Agnes Igoye, on Monday told media that as road constructions were going on progressively, many of them were having unprotected sexual intercourse with mostly teenage girls in the area and as such there were many teenage pregnancies and births that were unaccounted for.
It is reported that more girls were impregnated in the districts of Kumi and Pallisa.
The Independent news reported that “the Ministry of internal Affairs notified the road constructors together with support staff who worked in areas of Soroti, Kumi and Pallisa districts and had unprotected sex with the girls and impregnated them to take up the responsibility of fathering their babies.”
Igoye then advised the unawares constructors, who include both Ugandans and Chinese under Arab contractors; Osman Ahmed Osman & Co, that worked on those particular projects to return to the areas, take DNA tests to ascertain their relation to the babies and take up responsibility of the young girls they impregnated.
“If you know a relative, clansman or whoever constructed those roads, please let them crosscheck, let them do some DNA because they have so many children who are unaccounted for and no one is there to take care of them. When we reached Soroti in Kamuda sub-county alone, there were over 1,000 children who were pregnant and these were the ones that were seen visiting the health centres. You can imagine how many have not visited and how many have had abortions,” said Igoye.
According to UNRA Spokesperson, Allan Ssempebwa, such matters were not initially considered of much relevance until recently when they came into the spotlight. Therefore, to protect UNRA workers, a social protection plan was implemented and workers trained to handle such incidents, whereas culprits are always justifiably left at the mercy of the law.
