A society is often judged not by how it treats those who are strong, successful, and celebrated, but by how it responds to those who suffer in silence.
The true measure of compassion is found in the moments when a person is at their weakest—when they cannot explain their pain, when their struggles are invisible, and when they need support the most.
This is why Uganda must have a serious national conversation about how we respond to suicide attempts.
For many years, our response has been shaped by punishment through Section 210 of the Penal Code Act, which criminalizes attempted suicide. But as our understanding of mental health deepens, we must ask ourselves an important question:
Does punishment restore hope, or does compassion save lives?
A person who attempts suicide is not someone who has failed society. They are someone who has reached a point where emotional pain has become overwhelming. At that moment, they do not need condemnation. They need intervention. They need care. They need someone to believe that their story is not over.
Behind every suicide attempt is a person with a name, a family, dreams, responsibilities, and a history we may never fully understand.
It could be a student struggling to cope with pressure.
It could be a parent carrying unbearable burdens in silence.
It could be a survivor of trauma fighting battles no one sees.
It could be a person who smiles in public while suffering in private.
Mental health challenges do not discriminate. They do not ask about a person’s background, education, income, profession, or position in society. They can affect anyone, including those we least expect.
The uncomfortable truth is that many people become compassionate only when tragedy strikes their own homes. We often judge another person’s pain simply because we have not experienced it ourselves.
But suffering does not ask for permission before it arrives.
A mental health crisis can affect any family.
The question is whether, when it does, we will respond with judgment or with humanity.
Criminalizing suicide attempts can create fear at the very moment when people need help. It can cause individuals to hide their struggles, discourage families from seeking support, and deepen the stigma surrounding mental health.
We cannot build a suicide prevention system based on fear.
We must build one based on hope.
The World Health Organization has emphasized that suicide prevention requires a public health approach focused on early identification, improved access to care, reducing stigma, and strengthening support systems. The evidence is clear: people experiencing suicidal crises need healthcare and support, not punishment.
To our policymakers and leaders, this is an opportunity to demonstrate courage and compassion.
Reviewing Section 210 of the Penal Code Act is not about being soft on suicide. It is about being smarter about prevention. It is about recognizing that saving lives requires us to address pain before it becomes tragedy.
A compassionate Uganda should be a place where someone can say, “I am struggling,” and receive help instead of shame.
It should be a place where surviving a suicide attempt is seen as the beginning of recovery, not a reason for punishment.
The law should open doors to care, not close them.
The choice before us is not between valuing life and decriminalization. Rather, decriminalization is about valuing life enough to ensure that those in crisis receive the support they need to keep living.
Let us not wait until suicide touches our own families before we recognize that this is everyone’s concern.
Today, it may be someone else’s child.
Tomorrow, it may be someone sitting beside us.
Mental health is not a distant issue. It is a human issue.
Uganda has an opportunity to lead with compassion by creating a legal and social environment where every person experiencing emotional pain can access help, dignity, and hope.
Because a person who survives a suicide attempt is not a criminal.
They are a life that still has purpose.
They are a story that can still be rewritten.
They are a person worth saving.
Uganda must choose compassion.
Uganda must choose prevention.
Uganda must choose life.
The author is the Coordinator, Uganda Parliamentary Forum on Mental Health