Older persons facing rejection and attacks

ELDERLY PERSONS

Life has never been easy for the 90-year-old Mary Apio, a resident of Odeo Bung village in Aboko parish Aduku sub-county in Kwania district from the time her marriage failed and she lost all her three children.

Apio, a member of Eling clan, is grappling with serious challenges ranging from lack of proper shelter, food, clothing to other basic necessities.

To make matters worse, thugs broke into her ramshackle house and made off with all the household properties, including 14 birds and sh120, 000 she had received under Social Assistant Grant for Empowerment (SAGE).

When we visited her on Friday, the old frail woman was sleeping in a ramshackle, leaking hut with almost nothing to eat and no one to take care of her.

 She said on several occasions, unknown people have been attacking and robbing her property and her attempts to seek the intervention of local leaders has failed.

"I stay lonely here like this, my major problem is housing. When it rains, I just stand until it stops," she says.

"For food, I struggle and gather what I cook; I struggle because I was brought up in a farming community."

Apio said she was married off in 1944 at the age of 14 to one Augustine Okello, a former police officer and a resident of Aninolal village in Inomo sub-county, Kwania district.

Her marriage collapsed due to serious domestic violence and her father paid back the dowry.

She had wanted to persevere in her marriage, but her father could not allow this and took her away.

Apio had three daughters in her marriage, including the late Adie Natancias, a former Lawyer and all died and left her with only one grandson, whom she described as a lost sheep.

Life was not easy at home and Apio went to stay with her uncle, Kejiron Odora Deng in Ikwera, Aduku sub-county.

Being the hard-working mother, she was, Apio managed to buy nine acres of land and that is where she lives now.

"I thank the Government for supporting me under the SAGE programme, but my biggest problem is where to sleep, and unscrupulous youth who always attack and steal my property," she says.

Apio is just one of several older persons suffering in the villages. Although she is lucky to be benefiting from SAGE, many others die before reaching the age of 80 hence fail to access the grant.

The LC1 chairman of Odeo Bung village, Charles Ongom, admits getting complaints from the old woman and says he is going to hold an immediate security meeting to address her plight.

Ongom asked the members of the community to come up and support the old woman and construct a house in order to save her life.

Thomas Opio Okene,, a senior pastor attached to Baptist Church in Aboko parish, Aduku sub-county said he is now mobilising his fellow Christians to put up a temporary structure to immediately shelter the old woman.

Opio Onene equally asked the members of the community and the well-wishers to come out and jointly offer support to construct a permanent structure for this vulnerable woman.

In a recent interview with New Vision, Albina Awor, the Kwania Chief Administrative Officer says the number of the vulnerable people, especially the child-headed families, the elderly, people living with HIV/AIDS and PWDs has rapidly increased in the district.

She says the district is still assessing more vulnerable members of the community, especially the child-headed families and the elderly to understand their needs and agree on possible interventions to rescue them from the destitute situation.

Kwania district chairman, Bazil Okello Onac faulted village chairpersons and parish chiefs for laxity in collecting data about the vulnerable groups in their communities for assistance.

Onac explained that they are now distributing mosquito nets and food items to support such groups for the time being.

He, however, notes that the plight of these people now lies in the hands of the well-wishers since the magnitude is beyond the district.

Kwania Constituency Member of Parliament, Tonny Ayoo equally noted that the campaign for supporting the vulnerable families' in the community requires the responsibility of all.

He observed that many able people in different families have now abandoned their responsibility of taking care of the elderly, leaving their key roles in the hands of well-wishers.

Leonard Agum, the Kwania district senior community development officer, says they cannot do much because of the limited budget allocation to the department. He says their offices are often flooded by vulnerable members of the community, but they are equally helpless.

During the launch of SAGE programme in Lira last week, Jimmy Awany, the chairperson LC3 of Adyel Division said older persons in the region are being deprived of property like land and when they go to courts, they are not heard as they can't afford services of lawyers.

Lira district chairperson Alex Oremo Alot said putting the age of SAGE beneficiary to 80 is like paying almost nobody, especially in the Lango sub-region. "Let's reduce this to at least 70."

Situation of older persons in the country

According to the 1991 Uganda Population and Housing Census, the population of older persons was 686,260 (4.1%) of the total population of 16,671,705. This population increased to 1,101,039 (4.6%) as per the Uganda Population and Housing Census results of 2002. The recent National Housing and Population census indicates that older persons constitute 3.7% of the entire population (UBOS 2016).

Majority of older persons live in rural areas where poverty is rife with limited economic opportunities.

The Gender Ministry estimates the number of older persons to be 2.5 million by 2040.

The Government is now rolling out SAGE to cover the whole country.  Gender Minister Frank Tumwebaze last week said they are considering lowering the age from 80 and on increasing the stipend from sh25, 000 as may be agreed by cabinet and Parliament.