As cases of kidnapping women and girls continue to make headlines, the FDC Women’s League is mobilizing women from different political affiliations to hold a protest against the threat on women’s lives.
The Spokesperson of the FDC Women’s League, Sarah Eperu said on Monday that the women plan to hold a peaceful demonstration come June 21 at the Constitutional Square in Kampala.
This, Eperu said follows the failure by government to act on their earlier appeal made on February 19 expressing their discontent over the killings of women in Wakiso last year, and to have the affected families compensated.
“Fellow women are still being kidnapped but government remains silent. We remind Museveni that it is the duty of government to guarantee the safety and life of Ugandans including women,” Eperu told journalists at a news conference held at the FDC headquarters in Najjanankumbi on Monday.
She said that atleast 30 women have been murdered since March 2017 with the most recent one being a little girl identified as Nalule who was picked from the taxi park in Kampala. Last year, a spate of gruesome murders targeting women in parts of Entebbe and Nansana shocked the country a situation that prompted the President, Security Minister and then IGP to visit the scenes of crime.
As Police and other security agencies raced to resolve the murders, 2018 began with a new wave of kidnaps, the most prominent of them being the abduction and eventual murder of 28-year-old Susan Magara in February.
Many other young girls and women have since been kidnapped some of them killed while others are still missing.
“The women’s league has spoken enough but have been neglected. We are mobilizing all women to demonstrate against these killings, on June 21 at the Constitutional Square starting 9 am,” she said.
She made a call to all women regardless of their political leanings to join the June demonstration saying the kidnaps affect everyone. “I know that parents have lost sleep. You send your kid to school, the next thing you hear, they have been kidnapped. All women across political divide should take part because it is an issue of grave concern. We might be here today but tomorrow it could be one of us that gets kidnapped,” Eperu urged.
Eperu revealed that the FDC has already engaged the women’s leagues from the other political parties like UPC, Democratic Party (DP) and intend to mobilize those in the ruling NRM as well.
The women intend to wear black and sit in the Constitutional Square on June 21 to mourn their fallen colleagues and to express displeasure in the rising insecurity and how Police is handling these cases.
Tomorrow, Tuesday, as part of activities leading up to the mass demonstration, there will be a requiem mass at FDC party headquarters for the killed women.
The women will also meet with the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Okoth Ochola to express what Eperu said was grievance with how Police is handling issues to do with the kidnapping and murder of women.
“There are so many questions unanswered by the regime. Nobody knows what is happening in Uganda and it is the duty of Police to explain to us,” she said.
Eperu was accompanied by women’s rights activist, Stella Nyanzi and other women in the FDC.