16 November 2009
editorial
The death of former army commander Maj. Gen. James Kazini last week-- apparently in the hands of a lover- was deeply appalling and a cause of deep grief for his family, friends and the entire country. Though investigations are still ongoing, Maj. Kazini is perhaps another addition to the statistics of men and women who are malevolently killed in domestic brawls.
We have witnessed it endless times: a man recently killed his wife over Shs 500 coin; a police officer (ironically a custodian of the law) shot his wife a few months ago; a Ugandan in the UK was last week accused of killing his wife; another man was arrested for killing his wife. These are just a few of the cases that made the newspaper headlines in recent days, let alone the daily battering women and men go through in the hands of their brutal spouses.
Still, Maj. Kazini's dawn killing on Tuesday in a rental unit in Kampala's Namuwongo slum seems especially shocking, given his status and more so because victims of domestic violence are mainly women. Though many men are believed to be battered by their spouses, most of them choose to remain silent for fear of being ridiculed by peers.
This highlights the urgent need to address the issue of domestic violence. The awkward truth is that domestic violence is generally considered to be an issue for women activists to address. Even more dreadful; victims of domestic violence rarely get justice because our justice system seems to treat domestic violence cases as minor, propagated by that tired, chauvinistic and shallow line that "women feel their husbands show love by beating them".
It was encouraging that in the aftermath of Kazini's reprehensible killing, Parliament passed the Domestic Violence Bill-- a giant step in the fight against spouse battering. This law will check violence in homes and guarantee protection to victims through punishment of perpetrators and it will protect men and women in equal measure. Police report indicates that in 2008, 156 persons lost their lives through domestic violence.
Protecting Ugandans from harm is the government's principal responsibility. That is why we applaud Parliament for passing the Domestic Violence Bill and urge the President to urgently put pen to paper.
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