Matembe calls for castration of randy investors

Former minister of Ethics and Integrity, Miria Matembe addressing journalists during the press conference at Foundation for Human Rights Initiative offices Kampala on April 19, 2017. Photos by Godiver Asege

As she began to address a press conference called by women activists to speak out against sexual harassment of female employees by foreign investors, former ethics minister, Miria Matembe broke down and wept. 

"I didn't know that our women are being dehumanised to this level by these so called investors under our nose," she said. "This degradation is turning Ugandans into nothing in their country."

And then a sobbing Matembe pronounced herself against sexual harassment of female employees, calling for castration of foreign investors who perpetrate the vice. 

Matembe noted that whereas Ugandans welcome investors to the country, they wouldn't stomach those who do not have respect for values and rights of women. She challenged Ugandans to rise up and take on any investor who harasses his female employees.

Executive Director Foundation for Human Rights Initiative Livingstone Sewanyana interacting with Jamila Opondo during the press conference

This is yet another time Matembe has lost her cool and agitated for the castration of perpetrators of sexual offenses against women. When she was still ethics minister, she called for castration of men who defiled minors and raped women.     

Before she made the remarks on Wednesday, Matembe first listened to testimonies from two young Ugandan women who narrated how they were forced to help their bosses masturbate in their offices.

One of the women was Jamila Opondo, 31, who came to the limelight recently after accusing property mogul and AYA boss, Mohammed Mohd Hamid of beating her up whenever she refused to have oral sex with him in his office.

Opondo, who joined AYA Group of Companies as a logistics officer in 2015 explained that it had become a habit for her boss to grope her breasts and bums whenever he summoned her to his office. 

She said, "But the highlight happened on March 20 when he called me to his office, closed the door while his gun rested on his table and forced me into having oral sex." 

That's when she ran to the Central Police Station (CPS) in Kampala and later to Old Kampala Police station to file a case against him which did not yield any results.

"The Police officer who recoded my statement at CPS promised to get back to me in two days. I waited in vain until I decided to look for a private lawyer," she said.

AYA Group of Companies boss Mohammed Mohd Hamid

 
The second woman, Allen Nakityo accused her Indian boss who owns a petrol station in Kampala along Kampala-Jinja Road of ordering her to hold his manhood whenever he was masturbating from his office. She said until she chose to run away from the job recently, she had held her boss's manhood for two years.  

Nakityo explained that when she sought help from the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) of Police in Kireka, she was surprised when the female officer who recorded her statement told her that it was normal for a boss to ask an employee for sex. 

The press conference was called by the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI) whose executive director, Livingstone Sewanyana promised to help the two women find justice.

Speaker after speaker at the press conference, appealed to female Members of Parliament and the Minister of Trade, Amelia Kyambadde to join the fight against sexual harassment.