School dropout boys captured in Obongi town hawking goods. Photo by Stephen Unzimai

By Stephen Unzimai

Obongi

In the vow to empower the boy child in Obongi district,  leaders in the area have said the government has directed its attention to mostly the girl child neglecting the boy child which in the other way is now affecting gender equality.

Hon. Maneno Zumura, the women representative in parliament says now the neglected boy child is the one upsetting girl child education which she said should go hand in hand with boy child education.

“Although the girl child is empowered, the boy child is been left redundant, the boy child is the one left sitting on road side from morning up to evening and the boy child is the one addicted to drugs and these are the boys who will go back and defile the girls that we are empowering.” Hon. Maneno said. She added that it is high time government and implementing partners ensures the boy child is also empowered and also educated so that they understand that the girls are their sisters.

Mr. Ocen Robert, the settlement commandant for Palorinya settlement in Obongi district revealed that because of neglecting the boy child, they have registered high defilement cases. “We are realizing especially within the settlement that the boy child is so below and because of that, last year we experienced a lot of defilement cases.” Mr. Ocen said. Mr. Ocen added that the boys should be tamed so that they won’t pull down the girls been emancipated.
 
The leaders have narrated a lot of factors affecting the growth of the boys’ child.  

Hon. Bhoka Didi George, the MP for obongi district attributed this to irresponsible parenting and poverty among the parents.  “Some of the factors are from the parents, others are from the community and other laxities are from the schools and the situation has been worsened by Covid-19 and poverty,” Hon. Boka said.
Hon. Bhoka stressed that they have noticed with concern that most of the young boys and girls do not have the basic life skills that would make healthy choice easier to them.

To many the situation needs to be arrested sooner than later, Fatuma Garcia, the chairperson for women council says through government acts, this vice can be reduced in the community.

“Government has enacted a number of laws to fight and deal with traditional, private, cultural and religious practices so it is time to critically reexamine and identify our social norms and practices that discriminates the rights of girls and boys.”

Uganda has adopted many progressive policies and regulations to safe guard the rights of the girls but less attention was given to the boys’ child which seems to be having negative impact now in the community.