Mpigi residents told to take advantage of EOC

Residents of Mpigi district have been advised to embrace seeking services of the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) to fight against discrimination.

The commission which was set up by the Act of Parliament in 2007 was meant to handle cases of discrimination and marginalization amongst people through employment, disability, sex and property ownership among others.  

Speaking during the sensitization dialogue for the residents at the Mpigi district headquarters the deputy Resident District Commissioner (RDC) Lilian Nakaweesi said her office is over whelmed by the number of complaints ranging from land wrangles and conflicts, imbalances in the distribution of properties between widows, children and relatives of the deceased.

In addition to that, she said that gender imbalance and equity, poor budgeting and lack of social justice are some of the other major cases.

"The major cases they have logged in our office are about landlords' eviction of families, which we have mediated although sometimes we fail to reach an agreement and we refer the cases to courts of law," she said.

She explained that in most cases when they look into the problems, it is discovered that most land lords do not want to accept Busuulu on grounds that it is too little yet it is what the community can afford.

"Majority of the land lords wants a lot of money yet the tenants do not have enough money to higher lawyers to represent them in the courts of law leaving them marginalized "he said.

She observed that most relatives do not think about the future of the widows and their children in cases where husbands have died noting that the commission had come to the district when it was very much needed due to high cases of marginalization and imbalance.

Julius Kamya the commissioner for education training and communications revealed that ever since the commission was put in place, about 600 cases have been recorded across the country of which 300 have been handled and disposed.

"Many of these cases are to do with discrimination in employment, marginalization over inheritance issues, land ownership, access and control of property by women, inaccessibility to services like the health facilities among others," he added.

He however said that due to lack of enough human resource and lack of inexperienced staffs, it has reduced on the work force.

Kamya also said that higher expectation from the public is also a big challenge as the public insists on the commission to handle criminal cases yet they are outside its docket.

Zaminar Molole the board member EOC said the commission is yet to come up with guidelines of how issues to do with cultures and religions will be handled if an element of discrimination arises.