Don’t marry off your kids, parents asked

Dec 23, 2008

PADER district MPs and local leaders have decried the alarming rate at which parents are marrying off their underage daughters.

By Chris Ocowun

PADER district MPs and local leaders have decried the alarming rate at which parents are marrying off their underage daughters.

The girls are usually given to men for money ranging from sh500,000 to sh1m after they have been defiled and made pregnant.

The child protection unit of Lapul sub-county recently arrested parents of both the girl and the boy for marrying off their 13-year-old daughter to an underage boy for sh800,000 recently.

The MPs also said the number of girls attending school had dropped.

“At Porogali Primary School in Acholibur sub-county, only one girl sat for the Primary Leaving Examinations. The rest of the girls dropped out of school and got married. The parents are now marrying-off their daughters at giveaway prices due to frustration and poverty,” said Pader woman MP Franka Judith Akello.

She was speaking during a community dialogue on the dangers of early marriage at Porogali IDP camp in Acholibur sub-county recently.

The leaders were also told that after marrying off their daughters, the parents flee to other areas like Bweyale in Masindi district.

Matthew Kinyera Oyero, a member of the the child protection committee of Acholibur sub-county, said this year, more than 300 primary school girls have been defiled.

He added that 30 of the girls have tested HIV/AIDS positive while seven are pregnant.

Kinyera complained that many parents do not report defilement cases and prefer to settle them at home.

However, the parents said they would be wasting their time to report defilement cases to the Police. They blamed the Police for not following up the cases and asking for bribes.

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