Father angry with school for circumcising son

An angry father of a teenage boy says his school circumcised him without his consent and is considering dragging the school to court.

David Bwire says his son had been sent back home for school fees, which he claims he gave to him that very day.

But upon getting back to school, 13-year-old Oscar Wasike was reportedly circumcised without the knowledge of his father.

It's not clear why the school reportedly did so.

"The boy was sent back home to collect money for fees. I sent him back to school on that day. And that very day I was traveling to Mbale. I, as a Mugisu, I know this is an even year, and is our year for circumcision. If I had the intention of circumcising that boy there and then, I would have traveled with him home. But I took education as priority," says the frustrated man.

Bwire insists that his culture forbids circumcision of a first boy child by any person without consent of his parents.

He is accusing the school - Kitebi Light Secondary School - of subjecting his son to pain and diverting him from studying which was the primary role of taking him to school.

"Now the boy reaching school, upon paying the money, the next thing they did was to circumcise him without my consent. Now, out of fear, they instead gave him a ‘passout' [permission to leave school] to go for treatment. The boy out of fear resorted to look for a friend in those swamps."

The ‘Imbalu' season is on, a time when the Bagisu/Bamasaaba people of eastern Uganda see the initiation of male youths into adulthood through circumcision.