BY NELLY OTTO
JINJA
SENIOR Presidential Advisor for Busoga Mrs. Florence Mutyabule has asked residents in the region to be more careful at this time of the year when everyone is thinking of the festive season.
“…whenever the year is closing so many bad things happen which put the lives of citizens at risk because everyone is rushing to make a deal to get enough money to enjoy with family members,”she observed.
Of immediate concern, Mrs Mutyabule has urged head teachers of both government and privately managed schools and colleges which always experience nasty incidents around this time.
Her concerns come in the wake of increased fire breakouts in some schools, the latest being St Theresa Kisubi Girls School in Wakiso whose dormitory was gutted by a fire under unclear circumstances.
According to the Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson Patrick Onyango, items worth millions of shillings were damaged in the fire whose cause is now a subject of investigation by detectives.
About two weeks ago, the dormitory of Kamuli Girls School in Kamuli district was reduced to ashes where pupils including PLE candidates who are preparing to sit for their papers next month lost everything.
Mutyabule who served as teacher and head teacher for decades before retiring to join politics when she served as Namutumba District Woman MP notes that while some fire could be caused by some undisciplined students.
“…there are some students who mistakenly think being a candidate marks the end of their stay or connection with the school and try to cause damage, apparently to revenge over past punishment given to them…” she pointed out.
To avert such unfortunate but avoidable calamities, Mrs Mutyabule who also served as the President Mothers Union in Busoga Diocese for 20 years asked the school headteahers and directors to reduce risks.
She guides the school administrators to enhance security protocols in their places of learning by closely monitoring the movement and behavior of students and also to limit access by strangers and outsiders.
“…it’s important to deploy extra security guards who will be on duty throughout the day and night, watch over to ensure no foreign and suspicious items like petrol or foods are smuggled into the school…”Mutyabule counsels.
Addressing herself to the parents and guardians, Mrs. Mutyabule has appealed for special attention to both boys and girls because they face similar threats and challenges.
She is concerned that some parents do not follow the school calendar which is usually exploited by their children to indulge in immoralities which, in most cases end up in unwanted pregnancies and at times HIV/AIDS.
There have been cases where schoolgirls end up eloping with either fellow students or sugar daddies for weeks while the parents at home think they are still at school.
“…after discovering, the fraught parents or guardians now rush to the police to lodge allegations of kidnap, child and human trafficking or defilement to make up strong cases against the suspects…”she said.
She added some of these painful issues could be avoided if parents monitor the school programme and go to pick their children instead of merely sending money for transport.
Mrs. Florence Mutyabule also used the occasion to caution residents in Busoga to be vigilant at this period when the number of criminals who are looking for money increase.
She cited an incident this week when some armed thugs hijacked a Kenyan fuel truck and bundled the driver whom they dumped into Kakira Sugar plantation as an eye opener that crime is still a big issue.
According to the police, the blue Mercedes Benz semi-trailer with registration number UAU 402E carrying 34 tons of kerosene was robbed at Bukoyo Village along the Iganga-Jinja Highway on 21 October, 2023.
The truck was later recovered from within Jinja City by eagle eyed detectives, while the driver identified as Abdul Nuru, a Kisumu based Somali national was recovered from Kakira Sugar plantation.
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