Members of Parliament have asked government to carryout mass sensitisation on the dangers of gender-based violence to fight the vice.
The MPs were speaking to the Report of the Committee on Gender Labour and Social Development on gender-based violence in the districts of Moroto, Amudat, Kapchorwa, Kween, Tororo and Jinja during plenary on Thursday, 28 April 2022.
NRM Woman MP for Tororo district, Hon. Sarah Opendi said that one of the predominant issues is that most men have abandoned their responsibility of providing for their families especially in the countryside and focused on engaging in gender-based violence.
“This pauses a challenge because the men rely on the women for everything and if they fail it becomes a problem. Some women toil to provide for their families and when their husbands cross them, they fight back,” she stated.
Opendi added that these men focus on drinking from early in the day, which is a common sight when one pays a visit to trading centres in local communities.
Wakiso District Woman MP, Hon. Betty Naluyima, said that the matter of gender-based violence requires a long lasting solution by involving all sectors in the fight.
“Let us take advantage of the local governments and decentralise the fight by facilitating the Community Development Officers at the councils to attend to matters concerning gender-based violence,” Naluyima added.
FDC’s Mawokota South MP, Hon. Yusuf Nsibambi appealed to government to look beyond the punitive measures against gender-based violence and try to focus more on sensitising the communities with a high prevalence of the vice.
“The people in these communities affected by genital mutilation are uneducated about the adverse effects of this primitive culture; the Ministry of Gender should strive to educate and sensitise people on the effects of gender-based violence,” he added.
Hon. Nancy Acora (Indep. Lamwo District) said the government needs to pay special attention to uplifting incomes of households in the local communities because one of the root causes of gender-based violence is money.
“Homes with women who are more financially empowered than their husbands are the biggest hubs of gender-based violence. These men turn out to be insecure about their positions in their households and turn to violence,” she said.
Acora noted that government should devise empowerment programmes for not only women but the role model men in society who have risen to the occasion of being responsible husbands and above gender-based violence.
Source: Parliament.
