Mothers abandon their babies

Oct 22, 2010

A woman, aged 18, who claimed to be a food vendor in Kisenyi Zone, a Kampala suburb, recently abandoned her child at the Old Kampala Police station.

By Gladys Kalibbala

A woman, aged 18, who claimed to be a food vendor in Kisenyi Zone, a Kampala suburb, recently abandoned her child at the Old Kampala Police station.

The in-charge, child and family protection at the station, Margaret Andiru, says Halima Nassuna, who carried the boy claimed she had found him abandoned at a Mosque in Kisenyi. She also had medical form of the two-year-old Katongole Wasswa. A case was opened under file number SD Ref 50/15/10/2010.

Andiru says as Nassuna made her statement, she suspected her to be the mother of Wasswa. However, Nassuna insisted that she was only helping the boy. “We took custody of the boy, but were surprised when the same woman came back the following day, demanding for her child,” she explained. They suspected Nassuna of having a mental problem.

Nassuna says she left her child with her sister, but later learnt that the sister had handed it over to the Police as an abandoned child.

“For the safety of the child, we could not hand him back to the mother. We have taken him for custody at the Sanyu Babies Home until relatives of the woman can be traced,” Andiru explained.

On the same day, the Police received another baby boy, about one-year-old, abandoned at Anne Guest House in Nakulabye Zone IV, Lubaga Division in Kampala.

In his statement, the Guest House manager noted that on the evening of October 15, they received a client, Sophia Nantongo, 26, who carried a baby and a kaveera containing the baby’s clothes. She booked a room at sh5,000 for a night saying she had come to visit her elder sister in Nakulabye, but found that she had shifted.

Reports indicate that around 9:00pm, Nantongo, who says she was going to buy supper, left the baby sleeping and never returned.

The boy was also handed over to Sanyu Babies Home and a case opened under file number SD Ref: 23/15/10/2010.

Kyotera boy gets lost in Kampala
Ronald Lusuga, 13, could not explain how he ended up on the streets of Kampala on Tuesday morning. Lusuga is a P.6 pupil of Kyotera Infant School. Good Samaritans handed him over to the Old Kampala Police for safe custody.

Smartly dressed in his school uniform, Lusuga says he had left home at Kyakonda village in Kyotera, for school, in the the company of his siblings, Viola Namuwonge, P.4, Jovan Kasiita, P.1 and Emma Yiga in baby class.

He says his father, Godfrey Muwonge, is a farmer and owns a retail shop in their village. He told the Police that by 10:00am, when he regained consciousness, he was seeing tall buildings and when he asked a man near him, he was told it was Kampala City. When he attempted to call his mother, her phone was not on.

“I had a mental problem when I was in P.3 and even up to now, I find it hard understanding what is taught in class,” he explained.

Nambi wants to go
back to school

Twelve-year-old Mariam Nambi escaped from her aunt in Nansana on Wednesday morning and ran to Old Kampala Police for assistance.

She told the Police that she was in P.4 at a primary school in Iganga District, until the end of the second term. Her aunt who stays in Nansana, a Kampala suburb, brought her to the city for holidays, promising to return her when school started. “Since the beginning of third term, I have been looking after her baby and whenever I talk about studies, she just keeps quiet,” she told the Police. She says her home village is Nakavule in Iganga and her father is a bodaboda rider at Igamba trading centre.

Kabale girl stranded
Immaculate Nyakato, 16, had been advised by a boyfriend, Sentongo, to leave Kabale and find a job in Kampala. She arrived at night and got lost because she never knew her boyfriend’s place. She told the in-charge, child and family protection at Wandegeya Police station that she dropped out of school because she lacked fees. Her father is Wilberforce Rwampingi of Karusanga village. She wants to go back to school if she can get sponsorship.

Euyotaru wants to return
to Maracha

Ten-year-old Immaculate Euyotaru has been a P.2 pupil at St. Paul Kyebando COU School. She ran away from home in Kyebando to Wandegeya Police station, saying her uncle’s wife was mistreating her. Euyotaru, who wants to return to their home in Maracha District, explained that her mother, Molline, stays in Aliba village. She says their grandfather, Nyaki, who used to cater for them died. Euyotaru was brought to Kyebando by her uncle, Diku, in December last year.

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