Have street children vanished from Kampala streets?

A Shs 3.4b project to vacate Street Children from Kampala streets could be turning out positive. This follows a survey conducted by the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development on Monday, which spotted a drastic decline in street children.

The survey according to the ministry indicated that hotspots like Kitgum House, Wandegeya and Fairway roundabout as well as Kampala and Jinja roads among other areas were spotting no street children as was the phenomenon before the campaign.

The campaign to vacate children from streets was launched three months ago, with the government proposing Shs3.4b to resettle street children. While only Shs1b has been released towards the project, the Minister of State for Children and Youth Affairs, Hon. Florence Nakiwala Kiyingi, observed that the operation results are already impressive.

Nakiwala says the funds were sent out to multiple institutions including the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, as the lead agency, Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) and Ministry of Internal Affairs among others that had a defined role to play in ensuring that the operations is successful.

“I want to thank all partners for a job well done so far because I conducted an on-spot assessment of the hotspots where street children used to flock and I am happy to report that they are not there anymore,” Nakiwala noted.

She specifically commended the civic actors, the various Children’s Homes where some of the children were taken for temporary custody and leaders of all categories in Kampala and beyond for pooling efforts together to ensure that the children are safely evacuated from the streets.

She reported that the children are undergoing rehabilitation and resettlement while others are getting skilled in various fields, which is a path to becoming citizens that actively make a contribution to national development.

Nakiwala also appreciated the general public in Kampala for heeding to the call against issuing handouts to children on the streets and reechoed the appeal to anyone willing to sponsor the children to do so through registered Children’s Homes.

She revealed that all police units have been availed with a list of registered Children’s Homes in the country, which now add up to 160 spread across the regions, and emphasized that only those should be dealt with because their operations are sanctioned and monitored by Government.

She appealed to the Ministry of Finance to release the balance of the Shs2.4 billion that was approved for the withdraw and resettlement of street children so that the momentum is maintained.

The minister further notified the public that all abandoned children are supposed to be taken to the nearest police station as the immediate action. She cautioned that it’s against the Ugandan laws to take an abandoned child into your homes without the involvement of the police and probation officers.

“It is also wrong for Homeowners or administrators to go around communities looking for children promising them scholarships and other niceties without the stipulated legal backing. Otherwise, children should remain in the custody of their fathers and mothers or foster parents or better still in their original communities,” Nakiwala said.