Karamoja Minister orders police, KCCA to start crackdown on street kids
The State Minister for Karamoja, Eng.John Byabagambi has written to the Inspector General of Police and Kampala Capital City Authority ordering them to start the crackdown on all street kids.
Government recently ordered for the closure of over 500 illegal homes for street children all over the country.
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In a letter dated May 30, Byabagambi says that the issue of street children in Kampala and neighboring towns is becoming a challenge and the need to crack the whip on them immediately.
“During a technical stakeholders meeting chaired by the then Permanent Secretary in the Prime Minister’s office, Pius Bigirimana, held on March 28 2012, it was requested that that KCCA and police should halt operations to remove children from streets until reception centres are finished,”Byabagambi says in the letter.
“The purpose of this letter is to direct you to resume operations and have these children repatriated back to Karamoja sub region and be reunited with their families.”
According to the minister for Karamoja,two rehabilitation centres in Masulita, Wakiso district and Koblin in Moroto district have been refurbished and well equipped to handle the children before they are repatriated to their home areas.
The country has grappled with the issue of street children for a long time.
Kampala Capital City Authority recently said they would start arresting people who offer money to street children as a way of discouraging the vice.
Recently, Moses Binoga, the coordinator of the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Unit under the Internal Affairs Ministry put bus companies on the spot for aiding the trafficking of street children from various areas to Kampala.
“Last year alone, 87 children were intercepted in buses destined to Kampala before getting them off and returned them to their respective homes,”Binoga said in March.
“Some of these companies are only mind about making money. We have many reports of buses stopping at ungazetted stopovers to pick the children who are then transported to Kampala.”
There are over 10,000 children on Kampala streets currently.
Photo courtesy of Emily Rosebull
