Women sit closely together outside a dormitory for women victims of sexual violence. (Photo Courtesy Aubrey Graham/IRIN)

Kampala — Most Ugandans say domestic violence which has become a topical subject of recent, is mainly caused by alcoholism, according to a new poll.

Police records show that 137 cases of domestic violence were officially reported last year of which 156 people lost their lives.

The new poll has linked such incidents to heavy consumption of alcohol.

The poll conducted by Synovate- is a survey of public opinion on social, political, cultural and economic issues. It was conducted in September this year using a sample size of 1999 adult Ugandans who answered face-to-face structured interviews.

Ironically even if poverty was cited as second leading cause of domestic violence - unemployment comes last among the reasons for abuse.

Uganda has a narrow formal workforce and it is perhaps not surprising that unlike many developed countries which can map domestic tension to unemployment, here poverty - is a wider measure applicable to living conditions across both formal and informal economic activity.

Little research

There is also a marked absence of large research projects from local universities that track social values and conditions which could help say explain the high incidence of violence and its tolerance in general.

Recently alcohol has also grabbed the headlines with more than two dozen deaths from poisoning in a country which, according to the World Health Organisation, is one of the biggest consumers of alcohol on the planet.

Two other reasons of violence related to tension in the home are adultery and "lack of respect" or "lack of trust" between partners.

Indeed the ratio of people who say respect and trust are issues in violence have grown according to pollsters.

Despite over a decade of activism legislators have never passed a comprehensive domestic relations law.

Recent proposals for an amalgamated marriage and divorce law by the Uganda Law Commission- reported extensively by Daily Monitor have received a lukewarm reception among lawmakers.

However Ugandans are overwhelmingly [75 per cent] aware of domestic violence with awareness higher last year than in 2009.

The debate on domestic violence has picked up following the recent incident in which the former army commander Maj. Gen. James Kazini was reportedly killed by his mistress Lydia Atim Draru following a domestic quarrel in their rented apartment in Namuwongo, a Kampala suburb.