Wives of policemen sexually starved
Apr 23, 2009
SOME wives of Police officers at Naguru barracks yesterday complained to parliamentarians that they are sexually starved due to accommodation congestion.
By Madinah Tebajjukira
SOME wives of Police officers at Naguru barracks yesterday complained to parliamentarians that they are sexually starved due to accommodation congestion.
The wives, who preferred anonymity, said they cannot make love in the presence of their children with whom they share single-roomed houses, commonly called ‘maama ingiya pole,/i>’.
An angry mother of four explained that she and her husband only have sex during the school holidays, when the children have gone to the village.
“Honourable members, you are all parents. But in situations like this, how do you make love when the children are almost under your bed?†she asked in Luganda.
“I am sexually starved. I am a human being like any other person, and I am not certain about the future of my marriage.â€
The revelations came during a tour by MPs on the special parliamentary committee probing Police conduct, promotion, training and welfare.
The complaints about deprivation of sex were mainly raised in Naguru barracks, which has a population of over 15,000. During the impromptu tour, the MPs discovered that Naguru had some of the most congested and dilapidated barracks in the city.
Another housewife in her early 30s said she is in a marriage where she does not enjoy her conjugal rights. She told the MPs that she can only engage in sex with her husband quietly in order not to awaken the children.
“After failing to find a solution to the poor accommodation in the barracks for years, we resorted to performing sex very quietly, which makes it boring. How can you enjoy a meal when none of you is saying a word?†she asked.
Guided by Sgt Twinomujuni Odomaro, the MPs discovered that four constables share a unipot and sleep on mats without any mattress.
One of the constables told the MPs that when they want to make love with their girlfriends, they negotiate amongst themselves and allocate time to each other. Some constables who got married resorted to constructing their own mud-and-wattle houses in order to have privacy, he added.
The MPs found one constable in the barracks building his own house while two others were digging a pit-latrine.
“I am tired of sharing the kibati (unipot). I want to marry but I can’t marry in a shared unipot,†James Ekeram, a probation constable, told the MPs.
The MPs also found two families sharing one room which they had demarcated with curtains.
“Originally, there were three families here, but one family has relocated to a new hut they constructed,†Odomaro said.
Some houses in Naguru were so rundown that the roofs, made of iron sheets, were partly gone.
Odomaro explained that new unipots had been set up at the barracks to cater for the new constables who had completed the training in 2007 but they were not enough.
In Ntinda barracks, the next stop on the MPs’ tour, Police constables were found housed in a structure with walls made of iron sheets.
Corporal William Tumutungu, who has served in the force for 22 years, said it was impossible for the Government to fight corruption in the Police without improving their remuneration and welfare.
At Nsambya barracks, home to about 10,000 people, the MPs found the Police dogs better accommodated than the staff. The compound at the dog’s wing was partly tarmacked and partly covered with well-kept grass. The houses for the constables, in contrast, had sewage flowing and were packed one-roomed hovels.
The MPs received a hostile reception from the constables present, who accused them of criticising them while not doing anything to improve their plight.
“You are just looking at the way we handle you during arrests. But when you don’t feed your dog, what do you expect it to do?†one of them, Bosco Winyi, asked.
Another policeman heckled the visitors, saying their monthly salary was just enough to pay for the MPs’ breakfast. They complained that Parliament had not increased the Police budget to cater for new houses. Police constables, corporals and sergeants are paid between sh154,000 to sh200,000 a month.
After the tour, the MPs promised that they would highlight the problem of accommodation in their report to Parliament. Some were so shocked that they suggested seeking audience with President Museveni over the matter.
“We discovered two families in one room, one with four children and the other with nine children. This is serious and something urgent has to be done,†Peter Nyombi, the committee’s chairperson, told journalists.
Police spokesperson Judith Nabakooba said while the force gives priority to accommodation, it faces constraints of inadequate funding.
The number of Police officers in the country doubled in the last three years to handle the growing number of cases, from 18,000 to 37,000.
Capital expenditure for the Police force, however, has stagnated.
SOME wives of Police officers at Naguru barracks yesterday complained to parliamentarians that they are sexually starved due to accommodation congestion.
The wives, who preferred anonymity, said they cannot make love in the presence of their children with whom they share single-roomed houses, commonly called ‘maama ingiya pole,/i>’.
An angry mother of four explained that she and her husband only have sex during the school holidays, when the children have gone to the village.
“Honourable members, you are all parents. But in situations like this, how do you make love when the children are almost under your bed?†she asked in Luganda.
“I am sexually starved. I am a human being like any other person, and I am not certain about the future of my marriage.â€
The revelations came during a tour by MPs on the special parliamentary committee probing Police conduct, promotion, training and welfare.
The complaints about deprivation of sex were mainly raised in Naguru barracks, which has a population of over 15,000. During the impromptu tour, the MPs discovered that Naguru had some of the most congested and dilapidated barracks in the city.
Another housewife in her early 30s said she is in a marriage where she does not enjoy her conjugal rights. She told the MPs that she can only engage in sex with her husband quietly in order not to awaken the children.
“After failing to find a solution to the poor accommodation in the barracks for years, we resorted to performing sex very quietly, which makes it boring. How can you enjoy a meal when none of you is saying a word?†she asked.
Guided by Sgt Twinomujuni Odomaro, the MPs discovered that four constables share a unipot and sleep on mats without any mattress.
One of the constables told the MPs that when they want to make love with their girlfriends, they negotiate amongst themselves and allocate time to each other. Some constables who got married resorted to constructing their own mud-and-wattle houses in order to have privacy, he added.
The MPs found one constable in the barracks building his own house while two others were digging a pit-latrine.
“I am tired of sharing the kibati (unipot). I want to marry but I can’t marry in a shared unipot,†James Ekeram, a probation constable, told the MPs.
The MPs also found two families sharing one room which they had demarcated with curtains.
“Originally, there were three families here, but one family has relocated to a new hut they constructed,†Odomaro said.
Some houses in Naguru were so rundown that the roofs, made of iron sheets, were partly gone.
Odomaro explained that new unipots had been set up at the barracks to cater for the new constables who had completed the training in 2007 but they were not enough.
In Ntinda barracks, the next stop on the MPs’ tour, Police constables were found housed in a structure with walls made of iron sheets.
Corporal William Tumutungu, who has served in the force for 22 years, said it was impossible for the Government to fight corruption in the Police without improving their remuneration and welfare.
At Nsambya barracks, home to about 10,000 people, the MPs found the Police dogs better accommodated than the staff. The compound at the dog’s wing was partly tarmacked and partly covered with well-kept grass. The houses for the constables, in contrast, had sewage flowing and were packed one-roomed hovels.
The MPs received a hostile reception from the constables present, who accused them of criticising them while not doing anything to improve their plight.
“You are just looking at the way we handle you during arrests. But when you don’t feed your dog, what do you expect it to do?†one of them, Bosco Winyi, asked.
Another policeman heckled the visitors, saying their monthly salary was just enough to pay for the MPs’ breakfast. They complained that Parliament had not increased the Police budget to cater for new houses. Police constables, corporals and sergeants are paid between sh154,000 to sh200,000 a month.
After the tour, the MPs promised that they would highlight the problem of accommodation in their report to Parliament. Some were so shocked that they suggested seeking audience with President Museveni over the matter.
“We discovered two families in one room, one with four children and the other with nine children. This is serious and something urgent has to be done,†Peter Nyombi, the committee’s chairperson, told journalists.
Police spokesperson Judith Nabakooba said while the force gives priority to accommodation, it faces constraints of inadequate funding.
The number of Police officers in the country doubled in the last three years to handle the growing number of cases, from 18,000 to 37,000.
Capital expenditure for the Police force, however, has stagnated.