UGANDA, Kibuuku | Real Muloodi News | During the International day of Rural Women’s celebration, the rural women expressed concerns in the presence of officials from the Ministry of Gender, Labour, and Social Development, as well as Action Aid about land ownership following many incidences of husbands grabbing their wives’ land and property.
According to the representative of rural women in Kumi, Jacinta Amongin, women face a lot of disrespect and are treated inhumanely by their husbands, and some of their greedy husbands failed to fulfil their responsibilities and steal the little money that women earn to support their families.
She also shared that whenever they reported to the Local Council in the villages, they were not given enough help.
Amongin says: “The local councils in the villages have not helped us enough because wherever we report our cases to the chair persons, they always silence us and promise to settle the matter. This has denied many women out there justice.”
The representative urged church leaders to condemn discrimination and violent acts against women in their teachings because most men believe in religion and its teachings.
Nasuka Anna, the woman representative from Kibuuku District, shared her remarks on the issue and highlighted that women in her area do farm work and other small businesses to be the sole breadwinners in their households. In the presence of their children, the men of the house abuse, harass and disrespect their wives.
She stated, “Our husbands don’t want to assist us in farming activities, but when the crops are ready, they want to be in charge of all the money we get from the harvests. They pressure us to give them food at home, failure of which, they assault us in front of our children.”
The Kibuuku District woman representative added that some of their fellow women were pushed off their family land and bought their own. However, because most of these ladies buy the land during their marriage, their husbands do not hesitate in seizing the land and claiming ownership.
She also urged the government to assist them and enact strict laws punishing all men who use marriage to gain control of their wives’ land.
Nasuka Anna adds, “their husbands don’t hesitate to grab that land, claiming its ownership since most ladies bought the land when they were already married” and further stated “I call upon our government through parliament to assist us and devise strong laws punishing all men who hide behind marriage to grab women’s property on top of assaulting them.”
In response to the issues raised, Joshua Kyalimpa, in charge of Advocacy at the Ministry of Gender, Labor, and Social Development, stated that the government, through programs such as the Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Program (UWEP), focuses on empowering women in rural areas.
Joshua Kyalimpa said that more women would benefit from the program, and Uganda would achieve its 2040 vision.
He stated, “The recent study titled Master Card Index for women entrepreneurs ranked Ugandan women among the best in the world. Government has extended financial support to organised groups of women through Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Program and this has improved their income.”
According to Action Aid Programs Officer Ritah Nanyonga, there is a need to assist rural women in acquiring land where they can do their agriculture because rural women are champions in the sector and to support them in continuing farming and promoting environmental conservation.
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