The Prime Minister, Robinah Nabbanja, has lashed out at the media for what she called "their insistence on unfounded rumours rather than on disseminating issues that promote national development."

She said contrary to media reports, she does not have differences with any member of cabinet, and called those propagating such news as saboteurs. 

“I am tired of negativity. Please let me do my job,” she said, adding: “I have not clashed with any minister. Please stop promoting unfounded rumours. I know it helps you sell your news but my request to you is stop those rumours and let me do my job.”

She made the revelation on the sidelines of the Take a Girl Child to Work Day at her office on Tuesday. The symbolic act is done by girls assuming the role of a very important person (VIP) in society.

The mock exchange of roles is done to inspire girls to strive for a better future and shrug off negative societal encumbrances that hold women down.

Nabbanja was formally confirmed by the Parliament on 21 June 2021 as Prime Minister of Uganda, becoming the first woman in that job since Uganda got her Independence in 1962.

During the event, Celestine Mugenyi, who spoke on behalf of the girls, urged the government to rethink their policy on providing sanitary pads to girls, saying they (sanitary pads) have become expensive and are driving girls into early sex.

“We go to those men to get money for sanitary pads because they (pads) are very expensive,” she said, adding: “Some of us stay with our dads and we are ashamed to bring up the idea of pads. So, I will go to a boyfriend who will give me the money but he will also want to sleep with me.”

She added: “This can cause me to get HIV and AIDS just because of the sh2000 or sh3000 [cost of a packet of sanitary pads] but if we have organisations or governments that give them to us that danger will be avoided.”

She also urged the government to tackle the problem of gender-based violence.  “What are we going to do about this 22 percent of Ugandan girls that experience sexual violence? If these cases are rising it means we have a high chance of not ending teenage pregnancies and school dropouts,” Mugenyi said.

The interim country director for Plan International Isaac Obeng said the Take a Girl Child to Work Day activities are carried out across the country to help shine the light on the structural practices that hold the girl child down in a bid to find collective solutions to ending them.