35 women report husbands to Police 

KAMPALA - The Police in Kampala are battling with cases of home desertion by husbands, who have run away from their homes after failing to provide food during the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown.

According to Police spokesperson Fred Enanga, the authorities in Kampala Metropolitan area have for the past one week registered 297 cases of domestic violence, out of which 35 are from women whose husbands have since abandoned their families.

Addressing journalists at the Uganda Media Centre in Kampala on Saturday, Enanga said the Police have continued to register cases of domestic violence since the country went into lockdown.

Enanga said cases range from child neglect, assault, labour and women battering from different homes countrywide.

"Out of the 297 cases, 225 are from Kampala. Among these, 11 are of children who have been assaulted by their parents or guardians, seven of children who have been neglected, one of an abandoned child and 17 of missing children," he noted.

Last week, Bukedde TV aired a story of a woman from Kabalagala in Kampala, whose head was hit by her husband, when she asked for money to buy food.

Cases like this, according to the Police, been registered in different parts of the country, where men have failed to provide food for their families since the lockdown left them with no source of income.

694 people arrested

Meanwhile, Enanga said the Police in Kampala are holding 694 people for defying lawful orders on COVID-19 guidelines.

He said the suspects were found on the streets of Kampala past the 7:00pm curfew time, which was declared by the President.

Enanga said they also confiscated over 30 motorcycles. He also said they had netted a one Julius Mugarura, who was found in possession of 29 forged stickers for essential workers.

Donations to Muslims

At the same brief ng, the Uganda Prisons Service spokesperson, Frank Baine, said Prisons had banned direct donations to prisoners without going through prisons authorities at the headquarters in Kampala.

"We do not want people bringing the virus to inmates through donations," he said.
Uganda People's Defence Forces spokesman Brig. Richard Karemire warned security personnel who continue to abuse the President's directive by riding on bodabodas in pairs.

He said many security people, especially those from private companies, continue to ride on bodabodas yet these were banned from ferrying people.