Busia county signs MoU to combat GBV, teenage pregnancy

Busia county government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a Collaborative Centre for Gender for Development (CCGB), a social organisation, in the fight against gender-based violence, and teenage pregnancy.

Speaking during the signing of the MoU, Governor Paul Otuoma said Busia has recorded high cases of gender-based violence (GBV) and teenage pregnancies and the agreement will incorporate various stakeholders in projects to combat the menace especially fast-tracking the gender and development policy in the assembly.

Dr Otuoma revealed that the MoU seeks to address gender-related challenges, particularly focusing on unpaid care work, GBV, and access to gender-responsive financial services for young women.

“As a county, we are committing ourselves that we are going to fast track the gender and development policy in our assembly and we are going to ask our county assembly to fast track the approval of the gender policy which is in the assembly so that we can be guided by the policy," he said.

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The governor announced that the county will avail land for the construction of rescue and rehabilitation centres.

“We want to thank the partners for coming in and we are going to avail to them two pieces of land to put up the facilities, we are also saying that the recovery centre at Busia County General Hospital that we had already committed as a county, I have already given a directive that it should be effected and expended immediately so that it is availed to solve the vice,” said Otuoma.

Otuoma said Busia being a border county has high cases of GBV and child molestation.

“We are not in a very good situation because we have been flagged out as a county where the issue of gender-based violence and child molestation is on the rise, being trans-boundary there is a lot of movement from the East African region, and being a gateway we have a lot of visitors crisscrossing,” he said.

“It will be important as we safeguard our children and our communities and as part of the East African Community, we have a collaborative effort to try and make sure we protect our girls and women and ensure they are safe and have a conducive environment to work from. We have a lot of ladies engaged in cross-border trade we should ensure we have a daycare centre where their children are kept safe as they engage in their activities,” he added.

CCGB Executive Director Masheti Masinjila said in the two years to come they plan to work with 1,000 women, 70 per cent who are aged between 18 and 46.

“At the end of the project we intend to expand the Busia Children Child Care Centre from 300 to 600, these numbers should be able to go up because they are direct numbers and the ecosystem of these should be able to push the numbers to whatever figures,” said Masinjila.

“We are proud because the Busia county  government is putting resources into what we are putting on the table, for example, we have been given two pieces of land for some of the facilities to be put up. There is also a commitment to do with human resource needs and we expect that by the end of three years, many young women, girls, and boys are going to benefit from this initiative,” he added.

The county is grappling with surge in child neglect cases with Busia town emerging as a hot spot for street children.

Esther Wasige, the County Children's Services Director, said reports of child neglect have risen from last year’s 58 per cent to 59 per cent. “Cases of child neglect have now hit 59 per cent from 58 per cent recorded last year," Wasige said.