To give or not to give?
May 26, 2010
ABOUT five years ago, Kampala city streets had mainly the sight of people with disability as beggars. The able-bodied persons would beg secretly by ‘ambushing’ potential donors along the streets in the evening. Some would also use trickery or make up stories of how they have no transport to get
By Chris Kiwawulo
ABOUT five years ago, Kampala city streets had mainly the sight of people with disability as beggars. The able-bodied persons would beg secretly by ‘ambushing’ potential donors along the streets in the evening. Some would also use trickery or make up stories of how they have no transport to get home.
As time went on, even the able-bodied people became much more involved in begging. But because they cannot attract sympathy from potential donors, they have employed the services of children to beg on their behalf in broad day light.
This trick has been perfected by Karimojong women, who have flocked Kampala with their begging children. The women strategically place the children along the streets to catch the attention of passers-by for any probable donation.
When ignored, they sometimes follow up the pedestrians. As if to exploit all opportunities, they also close in onto vehicles during heavy traffic jam to beg from those travelling. According to Police, the Karimojong women use infants as beggars because they attract more sympathy than adults. Some women have gone as far as hiring the children whom they use to beg.
As if they are subjected to a pre-begging training session, the Karimojong street children request for money in such a beseeching manner that most of the passers-by usually leave them with their spare change. Unlike other beggars who use cups and plates, the Karimojong children use their hands to collect the donations and run straight to the woman who brought them to beg.
Several attempts by the Police and Kampala City Council (KCC) to round up the Karimojong street children and their ‘employers’ in the city have seemed fruitless as they keep coming back. The begging took a criminal twist when one of the Karimojong women, 23-year-old Lukiyo Agino, was arrested for abusing the child she was using to beg.
And the issue took a more dramatic twist when Kasese Woman MP Winifred Kiiza got annoyed with Agino for starving the two-year-old child. During the Police weekly press briefing at the Central Police Station on Monday, Kiiza gave Agino a couple of slaps. Ironically, the child belongs to Lokwere Mongesi, another Karimojong woman.
The MP’s action has, however, drawn divergent views from members of the public with some criticising the legislator and others supporting her. Commenting about the incident, Maj. Flavia Byekwaso says: “I cannot say the MP did wrong because the child’s situation was very touching. It could easily lead someone, especially a mother, into slapping such a person (beggar). It is annoying to do such a thing (starving) to a child. That beggar deserves a deterrent punishment.â€
Like many other people, Nicholas Wabwire, who works with Dillcom computers on Kampala road, agrees with Byekwaso. But Moses Musungu, a boda boda rider at Fidodido stage on Kampala road, says it was wrong for the MP to slap the beggar. He says: “The MP should have helped the child and left the Police to take the beggar to court to answer for her actions. The courts of law should give that woman a severe punishment for starving the child.â€
According to officials in the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, women in Karamoja hire out their children to Kampala-bound colleagues to be used as street beggars at a fee. John Okiror, the head of the Orphans and Vulnerable Children’s department in the ministry, says besides individuals, they have information that some civil society organisations use the children as a front to get money from donors.
He says individuals and organisations that bring the children to Kampala promise their parents money. Unconfirmed reports say some leaders from Karamoja region are also behind the transportation of children and women to Kampala to beg. But Okiror warns that once arrested, such individuals and organisations risk imprisonment for trafficking children. He says the government has established a transit centre in Moroto district where all Karimojong street children will be taken before establishing their places of origin.
This is where over 300 Karimojong families were taken early this month when Police and KCC went to Kisenyi slum where they sleep. The Karimojong told Florence Kirabira, the head of the Police child and family protection unit, that they have been sleeping in make-shift lodges at a fee of sh500 for adults and sh300 for children, a night.
Kirabira also warns that they would resort to using force, should the Karimojong refuse to peacefully return to their home region. “Time for using soft hands is over. Others who have refused to go home peacefully will have to be taken by force,†she said, before 300 Karimojong boarded the truck back to their respective homes. But just two weeks down the road, the number of Karimojong on Kampala’s streets seems to be rising again, an indicator that some could have returned or more have come.
Okiror says although they have set up a transit centre, resettling street children is a complex issue which requires all stakeholders to come on board. “The challenge is that these children require basic needs like food and medicine at the transit centre. They also need security or else their colleagues will raid them for food,†Okiror says.
The Uganda Reach the Aged Association (URAA), an organisation that advocates for the rights of orphaned and vulnerable children, says the Government needs to come out firmly to protect the rights of vulnerable children. Joseph Mugisha-Bitature, the URAA executive director, notes that many children become vulnerable due to poverty, loss of parents and insecurity in their areas.
He says his organisation would work with all stakeholders to advocate for the development and review of policies aimed at protecting children’s rights and vows to work towards ensuring that the influx of Karimojong children on Kampala streets ends.
For decades, the Karimojong have been depending on food handouts largely supplied by the World Food Programme, and thus very few are willing to work on their own. This is largely the reason they are beggars. The Karimojong do not only beg from Kampala, but also Mbale, Busia and Jinja towns.
Why people donate to beggars
Whereas many people donate out of sympathy, others people donate for other reasons. In many religions such as Islam, it is considered that a person who donates to a worthy beggar, gains religious merit. Others believe donating to beggars is one way of strengthening their faith.
Traditionally, some people in Uganda, including foreigners like Indians believe that once they donate to beggars, they are assured of getting more money and succeeding in their businesses.
Others, especially local civil society organisations, donate to beggars to get support from international donors.
Countries where begging is illegal
Although there is no law that bans begging in Uganda, it is illegal in some countries. Some beggars in countries like the US had even become aggressive, the reason authorities banned the practice. Below are countries where begging is illegal;
In Kenya, begging on the streets is illegal and so is encouraging it.
In Tanzania, it is also illegal.
In many big cities in the US, begging is illegal.
In the UK, begging is illegal under the Vagrancy Act of 1824.
In Japan, begging is illegal under the Minor Offense Law.
ABOUT five years ago, Kampala city streets had mainly the sight of people with disability as beggars. The able-bodied persons would beg secretly by ‘ambushing’ potential donors along the streets in the evening. Some would also use trickery or make up stories of how they have no transport to get home.
As time went on, even the able-bodied people became much more involved in begging. But because they cannot attract sympathy from potential donors, they have employed the services of children to beg on their behalf in broad day light.
This trick has been perfected by Karimojong women, who have flocked Kampala with their begging children. The women strategically place the children along the streets to catch the attention of passers-by for any probable donation.
When ignored, they sometimes follow up the pedestrians. As if to exploit all opportunities, they also close in onto vehicles during heavy traffic jam to beg from those travelling. According to Police, the Karimojong women use infants as beggars because they attract more sympathy than adults. Some women have gone as far as hiring the children whom they use to beg.
As if they are subjected to a pre-begging training session, the Karimojong street children request for money in such a beseeching manner that most of the passers-by usually leave them with their spare change. Unlike other beggars who use cups and plates, the Karimojong children use their hands to collect the donations and run straight to the woman who brought them to beg.
Several attempts by the Police and Kampala City Council (KCC) to round up the Karimojong street children and their ‘employers’ in the city have seemed fruitless as they keep coming back. The begging took a criminal twist when one of the Karimojong women, 23-year-old Lukiyo Agino, was arrested for abusing the child she was using to beg.
And the issue took a more dramatic twist when Kasese Woman MP Winifred Kiiza got annoyed with Agino for starving the two-year-old child. During the Police weekly press briefing at the Central Police Station on Monday, Kiiza gave Agino a couple of slaps. Ironically, the child belongs to Lokwere Mongesi, another Karimojong woman.
The MP’s action has, however, drawn divergent views from members of the public with some criticising the legislator and others supporting her. Commenting about the incident, Maj. Flavia Byekwaso says: “I cannot say the MP did wrong because the child’s situation was very touching. It could easily lead someone, especially a mother, into slapping such a person (beggar). It is annoying to do such a thing (starving) to a child. That beggar deserves a deterrent punishment.â€
Like many other people, Nicholas Wabwire, who works with Dillcom computers on Kampala road, agrees with Byekwaso. But Moses Musungu, a boda boda rider at Fidodido stage on Kampala road, says it was wrong for the MP to slap the beggar. He says: “The MP should have helped the child and left the Police to take the beggar to court to answer for her actions. The courts of law should give that woman a severe punishment for starving the child.â€
According to officials in the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, women in Karamoja hire out their children to Kampala-bound colleagues to be used as street beggars at a fee. John Okiror, the head of the Orphans and Vulnerable Children’s department in the ministry, says besides individuals, they have information that some civil society organisations use the children as a front to get money from donors.
He says individuals and organisations that bring the children to Kampala promise their parents money. Unconfirmed reports say some leaders from Karamoja region are also behind the transportation of children and women to Kampala to beg. But Okiror warns that once arrested, such individuals and organisations risk imprisonment for trafficking children. He says the government has established a transit centre in Moroto district where all Karimojong street children will be taken before establishing their places of origin.
This is where over 300 Karimojong families were taken early this month when Police and KCC went to Kisenyi slum where they sleep. The Karimojong told Florence Kirabira, the head of the Police child and family protection unit, that they have been sleeping in make-shift lodges at a fee of sh500 for adults and sh300 for children, a night.
Kirabira also warns that they would resort to using force, should the Karimojong refuse to peacefully return to their home region. “Time for using soft hands is over. Others who have refused to go home peacefully will have to be taken by force,†she said, before 300 Karimojong boarded the truck back to their respective homes. But just two weeks down the road, the number of Karimojong on Kampala’s streets seems to be rising again, an indicator that some could have returned or more have come.
Okiror says although they have set up a transit centre, resettling street children is a complex issue which requires all stakeholders to come on board. “The challenge is that these children require basic needs like food and medicine at the transit centre. They also need security or else their colleagues will raid them for food,†Okiror says.
The Uganda Reach the Aged Association (URAA), an organisation that advocates for the rights of orphaned and vulnerable children, says the Government needs to come out firmly to protect the rights of vulnerable children. Joseph Mugisha-Bitature, the URAA executive director, notes that many children become vulnerable due to poverty, loss of parents and insecurity in their areas.
He says his organisation would work with all stakeholders to advocate for the development and review of policies aimed at protecting children’s rights and vows to work towards ensuring that the influx of Karimojong children on Kampala streets ends.
For decades, the Karimojong have been depending on food handouts largely supplied by the World Food Programme, and thus very few are willing to work on their own. This is largely the reason they are beggars. The Karimojong do not only beg from Kampala, but also Mbale, Busia and Jinja towns.
Why people donate to beggars
Whereas many people donate out of sympathy, others people donate for other reasons. In many religions such as Islam, it is considered that a person who donates to a worthy beggar, gains religious merit. Others believe donating to beggars is one way of strengthening their faith.
Traditionally, some people in Uganda, including foreigners like Indians believe that once they donate to beggars, they are assured of getting more money and succeeding in their businesses.
Others, especially local civil society organisations, donate to beggars to get support from international donors.
Countries where begging is illegal
Although there is no law that bans begging in Uganda, it is illegal in some countries. Some beggars in countries like the US had even become aggressive, the reason authorities banned the practice. Below are countries where begging is illegal;
In Kenya, begging on the streets is illegal and so is encouraging it.
In Tanzania, it is also illegal.
In many big cities in the US, begging is illegal.
In the UK, begging is illegal under the Vagrancy Act of 1824.
In Japan, begging is illegal under the Minor Offense Law.