The Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) – City Hall Court has issued a verdict against over 100 Karamojong mothers, directing them back to Napak for rehabilitation and imposing a one-month community service sentence. Their offense? Sending their children to beg on the streets of Kampala.
The ruling, delivered by Grade One Magistrate Edgar Karakire, comes after the women were apprehended by KCCA Law Enforcement Officers during preparations for the NAM and G77 conferences. Having spent three weeks in Luzira Prison on remand, they faced charges of soliciting in public places.
Initially pleading not guilty, the mothers, accompanied by their children, changed their pleas to guilty before City Hall Court. They implored the court for clemency, expressing a desire to return to Napak to begin anew with their children.
Magistrate Karakire, recognizing the prevalent nature of the offense, weighed the mothers’ circumstances, acknowledging that some were widows with no means of supporting their children. Despite the maximum sentence of six months’ imprisonment, he opted for a different approach.
Rather than a custodial sentence, the court opted for rehabilitation and community service, cautioning the mothers against repeating their actions. Failure to comply would result in a one-month jail term.
This is not the first instance of Karamojong mothers facing such charges. In August 2022, Grade One Magistrate Jane Tibagonzeka sentenced 25 women to three months’ imprisonment for similar offenses. The recurrence of these cases underscores the ongoing challenge of child begging in Kampala.
In response to such incidents, KCCA enacted a Children’s Protection Ordinance in June 2022, criminalizing the act of sending children to beg. The ordinance also prohibits children from loitering, vending, or hawking in public places, and prohibits the sale of alcohol to minors.
