By George Bita

JUDITH Babirye, the gospel artiste of the Beera Nange fame has come up as one of the latest victims to go public about wife battering. The practice is common in Uganda. She reportedly had to run the home as her husband Samuel Niiwo, was in hot pursuit of other women. Each time she complained about his behaviour he beat her mercilessly in full view of their curious neighbours.

The children must have also witnessed this uncouth scenario of two supposed lovebirds turning hostile to each other.

Children like their parents living happily together and such horrible happenings leave a lasting bad impression on them. Children from such homes may even end up playing dad-fights-mum games and this is likely to affect them as they grow.

It is estimated that 10% of all women who live with a male partner will be assaulted by their partner at least once during the relationship. And yet the practice still goes on in our localities on a daily basis and many mistreated women suffer silently.

Occasionally, death has been the end result of such confrontations with the offender getting a lengthy jail sentence. For South Africans, wife battering is so common that on average, one out of every four women is regularly assaulted by her husband.

In some sections of Uganda, it is perceived that wife beating is an expression of love from the husband. Even those seeking medical attention after such attacks prefer to lie about the cause of the injuries. Anyway, Babirye may not subscribe to this line of thought just like former vice-president Specioza Wandira Kazibwe whose engineer husband gave her two slaps to cause an inevitable separation.

A few others have also walked out in protest although a sizeable number choose to stay. But either way, the issue of wife battering in whatever form, is primitive and must be condemned on the same footing we discourage numerous inhuman vices like child sacrifice.

According to a survey done last year by the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative, wife battering remains the main form of violence against women in Uganda.
The Human Rights Initiative discovered that out of every 10 women, eight are physically battered by their husbands weekly and they do not report to any authority.

It was established that in Kiboga district alone, the practice accounted for 33% of the cases of violence as a result of a strong retrogressive culture that gives little value to women.

Needless to say, battering could cause a woman to lose her life, get permanent injuries or lose her self-esteem.

However, it is possible that those who do not speak out about the battering are simply in the marital relationship for economic reasons or fear of being lonely.

Unfortunately, when the husband realises that a woman is not willing to speak out, it may only make matters worse.

Men must understand that there are many better ways of resolving domestic conflict. You can visit a counsellor and discuss your issues, but if you feel that does not work then you can utilise trusted relatives.

Partners are bound to disagree every now and then. When this happens the two warring parties must strike a comprise.

If the education ministry is slowly, but surely phasing out caning in schools, wife battering should also gradually become history through our judicial system.

The writer is a journalist