We don't want to see child mothers in labour wards - commissioner
Nov 17, 2016
"We do not want to see anymore child mothers in our labour wards, children can be in wards at birth but not as mothers," he said.
The assistant commissioner for the youth in the ministry of gender, labour and community development, Mondo Kyateeka has appealed to parents and the public to join the campaign to end child marriages and teenage pregnancies.
"We do not want to see anymore child mothers in our labour wards, children can be in wards at birth but not as mothers," he said.
He warned that government law enforcement agencies would go ahead to implement the law on defilement and abuse of children rights and deal with the culprits accordingly.
He said it was one of the most barbaric acts for a man to make a child pregnant and asked the public to join the campaign to end child marriage and pregnancy. He appealed to the youth to always call 116, a toll free line to receive immediate help.
Miriam Namaganda, one of the participants in the Kampala Youth music and drama competition sings at Theatre la Bonita, November 11,2016.
Mondo was on Friday speaking at the crowning of the winners of the 'Ni-Yetu Kampala Music and Drama competition' at Theatre la Bonita, which was organized by Plan International Uganda in conjunction with KCCA to fight against the increasing incidents of teenage pregnancy and child marriage.
Kampala based artist, Irene Ntale who was part of a team of judges announced Miriam Namaganda winner of the competition, which drew over 100 young artists from the five divisions of Kampala city.
The campaign organized in conjunction with Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), focused on drawing the attention of stakeholders and the youth to join hands to curb the teenage pregnancies and child marriages in urban settings.
The competition dubbed 'Ni-Yetu Youth Project', involved searching for the best behavioural change music, looking for talents that could use music and drama to portray messages geared towards condemning abuse of children's rights especially the girl child.
The campaign that will be duplicated in different regions in the country was also intended to create awareness about challenges of the girl child using music through supporting talent development of young people and use of songs that advocate for adopting positive behaviour change.
The assistant commissioner for the youth in the ministry of gender, labour and social development, Mondo Kyateeka hugs Miriam Namaganda after she was declared winner of the youth music and drama competition
Namaganda received a cash prize of sh500,000 and the first runners-up, Prossy Iga received sh300,000 followed by Harmonics Uganda who received sh200,000.
Apart from the music and drama, the campaign aimed at depicting the situation of adolescent girls in the city and what they wanted the authorities to address and their roles in ensuring that youth who fall victims to sexual abuses get access to the required services.
Harriet Mudondo, KCCA's director gender, production and community services said that government had put in place free reproductive health services for the youth in the five divisions and asked to make use of them.
The Ni-Yetu campaign, with funding from the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) also seeks to empower young people with correct knowledge; attitude and skills to enable them make informed decisions regarding their sexual reproductive health and rights.