KCCA repatriates 156 children to Karamoja as crackdown on street beggars intensifies
The 156 school-going children were received by Kalokengel Primary School, where they will resume formal education.
Former street children who were repatriated from Kampala streets in Napak District being registered on arrival. (Courtesy photos)
________________
Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has repatriated 156 children picked from the streets of Kampala and enrolled them at schools in Napak District.
The children were among 213 vulnerable people who were returned to Napak after undergoing care and rehabilitation at Masulita Children’s Village in Wakiso District.
The 156 school-going children were received by Kalokengel Primary School, where they will resume formal education.
The team comprised of 22 youths who have been placed for vocational skills training, while 20 mothers and their 15 babies were retained at Napak Central Police Station pending production before court at a later date for using children to beg.
KCCA authorities say that the repatriation is part of efforts to protect vulnerable children from exploitation and restore them to education and family life.
Hajati Sharifah Buzeki, the KCCA executive director, on Tuesday, September 8, warned individuals involved in recruiting and transporting children to Kampala for begging that they would be pursued through the law.
“Children cannot be recruited, exploited or used as a source of income for another person,” Buzeki said.
Buzeki said that some children said that they are required to raise at least sh5,000 a day, regardless of the circumstances.
The Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) executive director, Hajati Sharifah Buzeki and the deputy ED Benon Moses Kigenyi hand over scholastic materials to repatriated street children before they were sent to Napak District. 
KCCA interventions have established that many children found on the streets are not there by choice. Some are recruited, transported and controlled by adults who profit from begging, hawking, casual labour, domestic work and other forms of exploitation.
The Kampala Capital City Child Protection Ordinance, 2022 prohibits sending children to beg prohibits people from benefiting from proceeds earned through child begging.
KCCA has partnered with local governments and organisations, including the Uganda Women’s Effort to Save Orphans (UWESO), to support the children with food, scholastic materials and other assistance.
KCCA’s return of children to their communities must be accompanied by sustained support to keep them in school and prevent them from being brought back to Kampala.
Buzeki urged parents and caregivers not to send or surrender children to Kampala for begging, hawking or street work.
She also called on communities in Napak, Karamoja, Kisoro and other affected areas to report people suspected of recruiting or transporting children.
“Transport operators, landlords, market authorities, business owners and community leaders should report adults who recruit, transport, house or profit from children,” Buzeki said.
KCCA has also appealed to members of the public not to give money directly to children on the streets, saying such acts, however well-intentioned, can sustain a system in which adults profit from children.
The public is encouraged to report children in distress or suspected cases of trafficking to KCCA, police, probation and social welfare officers or other authorised child protection actors.
For the 156 children now back in school, KCCA says the intervention offers a fresh start away from the streets and back into classrooms, families and safer communities.