Serere security, leaders raise red flag over increased women murders

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SERERE

In a space of seven months now, over ten women in Serere district have been killed in different circumstances, an issue that has raised eyebrows from leaders and women rights activists about the safety of women.

The latest case is the murder by strangulation of Rebecca Viola Abiro 16, a senior three student of Serere township SS who was killed on Thursday, February 20.

Rebecca Viola Abiro who was killed by unknown people. (Credit: Godfrey Ojore)

According to the police, Abiro was raped and strangled using a mosquito net. At the time of filing this report, her unidentified killers remain at large. 

Her gruesome murder came hardly two weeks after the murder of Christine Akello, 33, from Kakusi.

Abiro, daughter of Simon Otai and Joyce Auma, was attacked inside her hut on Thursday night.

Police believed that her killers accessed the hut by breaking into the door. The incident took place in Township Cell, Kakusi Ward. 

Abiro's murder is similar to that of Scovia Apio 16, another student allegedly strangled by her boyfriend in Ocapa town council in June last year. Her killers remain at large.

In a recent interview, the regional police commander East Kyoga, Damalie Nachuha, has promised that the police are committed to ensuring that the families of those who have lost their loved ones shall get justice.

Serere tops the list of the recent crime ranking of police in the East Kyoga region (Teso) which comprises 11 districts.

It’s against that background that the Women and Girls Rights activists are expressing their displeasure with police over the continuous murders in the district without the families getting justice.

“We call upon the Police to conduct thorough and expeditious investigations, leading to swift arrests and convictions of the perpetrators,” said Deborah Akello, the executive director of Women and Girls Rights Advocacy Uganda (WAGRAU, which is based in Serere district, on Friday.

Whereas Police have attributed women killings to domestic violence in the region, especially Serere, Akello thinks otherwise. 

“Why must it be only Serere where we bury women almost monthly, does that mean that it's only Serere where domestic violence is alarming?” Akello wondered.

She however emphasized the need for a multifaceted approach in addressing the vice.

“We urge community stakeholders such as government officials, civil society organizations, religious leaders, cultural leaders, and the community at large to collaborate in developing comprehensive strategies to address the root causes of gender-based violence,” Akello said.

Sections of the community claim that the incidents are not isolated but the regional police commander Kyoga East, Damalie Nachuha, has denied such findings noting that all murders have occurred in different dimensions.

“It's not an organized crime because not only women are killed but even men and also they are not killed similarly. Others are strangled, others are hacked,” Nachuha said.

Political leaders are puzzled and now the area woman MP who doubles as the minister of state for fisheries is demanding the president's intervention.

“On Monday during cabinet meetings, I am raising this matter before the president so that security may be heightened. It's puzzling to note that the perpetrators are at large,” Adoa said.

Women who have died between June 12, 2024, to February 20, 2025

Scovia Apio aged 16 from Ocapa, killed on June 12, 2024

Betty Ijangolet from Kagwara, killed on June 23, 2024

Ann Mary Akello, killed on July 3, 2024

Joyce Mary Ilolu, killed on July 12, 2024

Betty Anyango from Upper Shops, killed on July 26, 2024.

Mary Akello, killed on Aug. 5, 2024

Matilda Atigo 75 from Kyere, killed on Sept. 19, 2024

Iparo 60, killed on Dec. 28, 2024

Christine Akello from Kakusi, killed on Jan. 26, 2025

Rebecca Viola Abiro aged 16, from Serere Township cell, killed on Feb. 20, 2025.