The Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development, Betty Amongi Ongom, has called on leaders to double their efforts in the fight against child marriages.
She made the call on Saturday during the Okuhingira ceremony of Col James Nkojo in Kiruhura District.
The Minister commended Col. James Nkojo and his wife Deborah for taking a bold step to legalize their marriage through the traditional ceremony.
She noted that the diverse beautiful Uganda, and African culture remains a cornerstone for our national identity and continuation of survival in the global community which should be preserved jealously.
Amongi advised the community to emulated the couple who got married at the age of consent and appealed to leaders to join government to end child marriage.
Uganda remains one of the countries with the highest prevalence rate of child marriage and teenage pregnancy.
Child Marriage and Teenage Pregnancy exponentially shot up during the outbreak of Covid-19. The rise in teenage pregnancies, child marriages and ultimately the number of adolescent mothers has been widely reported by all stakeholders and witnessed in communities.
According to UNICEF, the current statistics indicate that 34 percent of children are married before the age of 18 and 7.3 percent before the age of 15 and an average of 1,000 teenage pregnancies being reported per day (Ministry of Health).
Uganda has one of the youngest populations in Africa. According to the 2014 census, 55 percent of its population (now estimated at about 42 million) is below 18 years old.
The youth take a big percentage of the country’s population. Child marriage creates significant barriers for girls’ education.
In some places, married girls are legally prohibited from attending School, while in many others social norms and new family responsibilities force them to end their schooling.