Baby abandoned with father's dead body

By Gladys Kalibbala

Some stories do not belong to this era’s human beings. If what the Police was told is true, this will likely qualify for the most shocking child story of the year past.

It is about the two-year-old baby who was found locked in a room with her father’s body.

Someone reported to Raising Voices (an organisation fighting for children’s rights) that a baby had been abandoned in a house around Njeru West zone near Mbiko town. This was in July, 2014.

Her mother had abandoned her with a sick father and disappeared. Her father’s family locked her inside her father’s room and would take food to the sick man and the girl once a day.

Then one night, the father died. And the baby remained in the room with the father’s dead body.

Later, it is reported the family removed his body and took it for burial, locking the girl in the room. However, someone who knew of this case alerted mourners who stormed the place and broke the door.

The girl was rescued and handed over to Njeru Police. She was badly malnourished. Some family members were arrested.

Raising Voices nursed the baby before handing her to willing foster parents, Pastor John Mukuya Shiundu and his wife Barbara.

Mukuya is the director of KIDRON Primary School in Naminya near Jinja town.When contacted, he said the girl is recovering steadily from the trauma.

“She can now talk properly,” the pastor said.