The FDC Women’s League has vowed to rally women as well as families and friends of the women who were brutally murdered in Wakiso district last year to mount pressure on government so that the perpetrators of the killings face justice.
Women in the FDC are demanding that security agencies provide findings of their investigations and that the families of the murdered women are compensated.
During a news conference at the FDC headquarters in Najjanakumbi on Monday, the FDC Women’s League spokesperson, Sarah Eperu expressed concern over the dragged process of investigations into the murders.
In the period between May and November last year, a spate of killings of about 30 women with a pattern of brutality gripped the country with fear. The killings happened in parts of Entebbe and Nansana in Wakiso district.
One after the other, women were discovered dead, with sticks shoved into their genital parts while others had been sexually abused before they were killed.
But Eperu said that to date, security agencies like Police, CMI, SFC and even the FBI which was later called in to assist have not produced a report on who killed these women.
“Inspite of several promises to effectively apprehend individuals found guilty of the serial murders, nothing has been done to either convict or penalize any arrested suspects charged with the crimes,” Eperu told journalists on Monday.
Instead, she said, these agencies resorted to profiling the victims of this brutality as promiscuous sex workers or mentally ill people.
She also blamed the Minister of Internal Affairs, Jejje Odong who presented “an unsatisfactory report” on the murders to Parliament last year. According to the report, the murders were caused by illuminati ritual sacrifices or traditional religion carried out by businessmen at Kasenyi landing site to boost their wealth.
As part of the Women’s Day celebrations, Eperu revealed that the Women’s League will mobilize women to demand for justice for victims and families and friends of the deceased.
At the same news conference, Makerere University researcher and rights activist, Dr Stella Nyanzi said that; “We are going to visit their homes, condole with the bereaved and empower them to demand for justice”.
Relatedly, FDC Women have said they will use this year’s Women’s Day to protest the rising costs of water at stand pipes which they say has had a negative bearing on women across the country.
“Women need water mostly for our domestic and reproductive functions. Women’s hygiene and sanitation is affected. We demand that government lowers tariffs on water as a gift to Uganda’s women on Women’s Day,” FDC said in a statement.