Friends
Just before I tackle another study from Tennessee University, about Acholi
violence, let me just jump into the middle of it and pull an example of why
we need to raise up and go after Acholi violence. Here are two very good
examples used in the study that is going to be in the next series.
A husband and wife got into an argument over money. The wife wanted to
negotiate
with her husband a budget to curtail his expenditure of household income on
alcohol and
gambling. As the head of the house, the husband was enraged by his wife's
insolence. In
Acholiland, it is customary that the male head of the house alone decides
the allocation
of household income. This prompted a domestic dispute that resulted in the
husband
beating his wife to death. In a frenzied state, he proceeded to tie her body
to the back of
a boda boda [motorcycle-taxi] and dragged her through the streets. People
witnessed
the crime and the man willingly confessed his guilt. He was sentenced to
many years in
prison, but his time was significantly reduced because, the community
determined, it
was better that the children are raised by their father instead of becoming
orphans.
While the expunging of the mans legal sentence may be interpreted as a sign
of tremendous
fallibility in the legal system, it is a decision that is strongly
influenced by culture and
community concerns. The decision to leave the children in the custody of
their father, in spite
of killing their mother, is a testament to the gravity of community concerns
over orphaned
children. Uganda has the highest proportion of AIDS orphans worldwide,
(Save the Children
2011). According to a Congressional Research Report on the current crises in
northern Uganda,
there are over 1 million orphans from the AIDS crisis, the majority of
whom are in the north
(Dagne 2011:16). There is high community anxiety over who will assume
responsibility for
taking care of orphaned childrena responsibility that may overwhelm
families that are
already economically strained. Orphans face diminished chances of receiving
and education
and, otherwise, accessing the materials they need to lead healthy lives
(Oleke et al. 2007). In
the aforementioned case, the community viewed the uncertainty of securing
orphaned
childrens livelihoods as a greater concern than the danger of leaving the
children in the
custody of their father. This is a critical observation for two reasons.
Firstly, it demonstrates the
influence of culture on judiciary decisions which aim to address the
concerns of communities.
Secondly, it underscores another devastating consequence of sexual and
gender-based
violence: orphans who face livelihood insecurity.
A man came home and accused his wife of adultery (very common thing to
happen
here). She denied the accusations and they started fighting. The fighting
escalated with
the husband setting his wife's private parts on fire before hacking her to
death with a
machete. The mans two children, having witnessed their father murder their
mother,
ran to their uncles hut and relayed the events. In order for the courts to
convict their
father of murder and sentence him to life imprisonment without parole, thus
leaving
them orphaned, the elder child had to testify in court. He was
six-years-old.
Rather than the silencing effect I anticipatedindeed, it seems the Resident
Judge
anticipatedthe room bubbled with mens laughter. The police, UPDF soldiers
and security
forces in attendance laughed as the judge described the details of the
second case. The part
about setting the wifes vagina on fire was particularly funny. One man in
the row in front of me
leaned over to his colleague and chuckled, And that is why you should not
cheat on your
husband. The Resident Judge was not laughing; the women in attendance were
not laughing
all victims themselves of sexual and gender-based violence; men in
attendance there to provide
testimonies as survivors of torture were not laughing. The laughter that
uncomfortably divided
the room made clear the discrepancies between the signing of a UN Convention
and its
meaningful translation into social protection.
And this what makes me enraged. You have beaten her and you have killed her.
Why drag her through the streets? And to the second man, you have set her
vagina on fire why hack her to death? But most importantly, just how many
people have been murdered by Acholi to to-date?
But Akim Odong, do you even firkin care !!!!!!!!
EM
On the 49th Parallel
Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja and Dr. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda is in
anarchy"
Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
"Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja na Dk. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda ni
katika machafuko"
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