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Three years ago, Maureen Kwagala, now aged 17, was lured into a love affair in Senior One at Buyende High School in Buyende district. 

Her suitor was a teacher at a private primary school in the neighbourhood of Nakabira village.

At barely 15 years old, Kwagala had occasional sexual affairs with the teacher. It was shortly after learning of her pregnancy that the man left the school and was never to be seen again. She endured the pregnancy and after birth, Kwagala’s mother informed her of how she couldn’t afford to look after her.

This pushed her to get a caretaker, another man, who also ran away after impregnating her. 

Today, at 17, she has two children. Kwagala is back at her mother’s home. She makes and vends pancakes for a meagre income to look after her children.

The daily struggles to fend for her children have cast her into endless regrets for actions that cut short her education and dream of a nursing career.

Kwagala is only a fraction of the numerous adolescents who are grappling to nurse fellow children, to which leaders in the region are calling for a revival and promotion of African values in efforts to secure a generation free of teenage pregnancies.

African values

The principal private secretary to the Tabingwa (chief) of Buzaaya (in Luuka district) in Busoga Kingdom, John Ibanda Badhibyalagha says the circumstances that are leading to increased teenage pregnancy are not African because in “our African setting, a girl engages in sex when she is in marriage.”

He says sex before marriage is such a crucial aspect in African cultures that certain customs are carried out by the bride’s paternal aunt to confirm the virginity.

He was addressing participants in a workshop to launch the Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy (PROAP) project in Buyende and Luuka districts on May 31, 2023. Badhibyalagha said there is a need to educate our girls and boys to know the purpose of sex, which is procreation.

“These young people should be taught that whenever they have sex, they should expect the girl to conceive and be ready to take responsibility. What happens now, these young people go and play sex, because they think it is for pleasure. If a girl tells the boy that 'I'm pregnant', he denies the responsibility,” he said.

Badhibyalagha said these African values can be imparted into children through interactions with parents as well as education, cultural and religious forums.

Create awareness

The three-year project, PROAP, aims at increasing awareness among adolescents and local communities to utilise adolescent-friendly sexual and reproductive health services, in order to contribute to the prevention of adolescent pregnancy.

It will be implemented by Plan International in partnership with the ministries of health and education and district local governments, with funding from the Korea International Co-operation Agency (KOICA).

The launch comes at a time when Busoga region has consistently recorded the highest annual number of teenage pregnancy cases in Uganda over the past three years: 46,337 cases in 2021; 44,227 in 2020 and 45,120 in 2019.

The adolescent pregnancy rate in Buyende is 28%, above the national average of 22%, while that of Luuka district is at 21%.

Buyende Resident District Commissioner David Kulaba Isabirye challenged the men in the region to respect the innocence of adolescents, arguing that it is immoral for adults to impregnate young girls.

“When did we stop looking at them as our children? Unless you sit down with your own children and reflect, these tendencies will not stop. Let us reexamine ourselves, no amount of money will rectify the problem if we don’t have morals among old men,” he said.

He also called on police to intensify efforts in investigating cases and apprehension of the culprits “to them lose appetite for the young girls.”

Multi-sectoral approach

The officer-in-charge of Luuka Central Police Station, John Bosco Kasumba said the mindset of the community needs to be reoriented to enable reportage of more cases, since “currently 90% of them are not reported.”

The technical advisor for health at Plan International Uganda, Cissy Kaamu, said the fight against teenage pregnancy calls for a multi-sectoral approach, involving the different stakeholders including the individual adolescents, family members around the adolescent, community members, policymakers and law enforcers.

She said the religious and cultural leaders should address the social norms that are fuelling issues of teenage pregnancies and early marriages, the parents need skills to handle the slippery adolescent group to enable them effectively play their role in grooming them.

Emmanuel Kaigo, the chairperson of Bugabula, Buzaaya, Budhimbe, rallied cultural leaders to use public functions to sensitise and remind parents to rekindle their responsibilities, especially efforts to ensure children stay in school.

“Parents should ensure that they provide all the school requirements so that the children stay in school. But when they send them back home for a book, and the parent doesn’t provide it, they will resort to selling parents. Sometimes, it is the parents that send the child to the streets where the immoral men find them,” he said.

Knowledge on rights

Busoga North Police region spokesperson Michael Kasadha attributed the tendencies of teenage pregnancy in the region to poor parenting as well as peer and societal pressures, which justify the girls’ pregnancies as normal.

He noted that adolescent girls lack information and guidance on sexual and reproductive health rights.

“The children will end up into actions they don’t understand because they lack information. This information should be availed by parents, but sometimes they think it is not their duty,” he said.

He, however, added the police have partnered with civil society organisations and government agencies to sensitise the communities, using open forums and radio talk shows.

Kasandha said the sensitisation has also led to a rise in reported cases, which he describes as an indication of the effectiveness of the information they shared with the locals.

“Previously the numbers were low because the cases were not reported. With knowledge of the rights, they have started reporting the cases. As long as they are reported, we can deal with them appropriately. The number of people held and charged in the courts of law has been increasing over the years,” he said.