By David Kazungu - Daily Monitor
Mbale
Three reception centres and boarding schools await girls who will reject Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), the chairperson of Uganda Women Parliamentary Association has said.
Ms Jane Babiiha Alisemera said the schools will be built in Amdat, Bukwo and Kapchorwa districts to protect girls from the culture of female circumcision .
Ms Jane Babiiha Alisemera said the schools will be built in Amdat, Bukwo and Kapchorwa districts to protect girls from the culture of female circumcision .
Resistance
She said the government is aware that the plan to abolish female circumcision has been met with a lot of resistance but said with the continuous sensitisation of girls, there are indicators that many of them are responding to the call of abandoning the culture.
She said the government is aware that the plan to abolish female circumcision has been met with a lot of resistance but said with the continuous sensitisation of girls, there are indicators that many of them are responding to the call of abandoning the culture.
“We need these reception centers to welcome and accommodate those girls who would escape the wrath of female genital mutilation,” Ms Alisemera said adding that the boarding schools will be used to ensure that the girls do not fall prey to FGM.
She explained that the government is planning in the next financial year to set up family and child courts with a Grade I Magistrate at sub-county levels to help prosecute perpetrators of the act.
She appealed to all stake holders to join hands to wipe out the practice that has left several women dead and others disabled.
The East African Community Member of Parliament Ms Lydia Wanyoto Mutende said the EAC Parliament is considering instituting a similar law to avoid cross border practice of female circumcision. “So far it is only Uganda that has a law against FGM, we want to deal with this matter once and for all in the countries that practice it especially Uganda and Kenya”, Ms Wanyoto said.
Sensitisation
The Uganda parliamentary Association was in Mbale to sensitise stakeholders about the new law that prohibits female circumcision. The sensitisation meeting drew participants from 10 districts from eastern Uganda.
The Uganda parliamentary Association was in Mbale to sensitise stakeholders about the new law that prohibits female circumcision. The sensitisation meeting drew participants from 10 districts from eastern Uganda.
