6 November 2009
editorial
Enock Ssebanga, 21, on Wednesday lost the battle to leukaemia. The picture of his scraggy body published by this newspaper on August 7, 2000 shocked the world about the boundless nastiness of some parents. Then 12, Ssebanga was accused by the step-mother, Regina Nabakoza of being a thief. His father, Charles Kayongo, capitulated to the devilish plot to incarcerate the teenager in an abandoned store for two months, starving.
Ssebanga survived the cruelty. But more than nine years later - - on Wednesday -- succumbed to blood cancer, an ailment medically unrelated to human engineering. In death as was in life, he reminds humanity of both the limitless cruelty of the dark-hearted as well as the power of resilience.
However, one would fathom that his agonising story taught a timeless lesson of compassion. Apparently not to Ugandans! Police reported in last year's crime statistics that of 3, 760 registered cases of victimised juveniles, eight out of every 10 was tortured, physically abused or neglected. It gets worse that in the first four months of this year, Police have recorded 8, 289 cases of child neglect, theft, desertion, kidnap, trafficking, defilement, showing rising abuse and torture incidents. Add gory child sacrifices. Proponents say tougher laws/penalties and institutional policing would end the menace. We agree only as much.
Laws, however elaborate in books, don't bring food on the table for struggling parents. As the African Network for Prevention against Child Abuse and Neglect - Uganda argues, worsening poverty engineering psycho-social distress should be addressed in tangible ways.
The solution to hopelessness cannot be punishment. That's why unplanned population explosion is a ticking time bomb that political leaders rather than cheer, must discourage. The communal upbringing of children, a virtue of our tradition, helped buffer for improvident families. As we imbibe Westernised individualism, the crack to morality and desperation torture us like Ssebanga's rattling plea in life.
Planning for and financing social security programmes for deprived children and the most vulnerable in our society work well as the safety net for a sustainable future - for all.
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