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Imagine a religious leader in an act of rape! Religious leaders are supposed to be exemplary in society and thus promote moral behaviour.
The daily monitor, one of the leading newspapers in Uganda, is taking the lead in fighting rape and advocating for impunity for sexual abuse.
A 36-year-old Latvian lady, Anda, a tourist was raped by a Ugandan pastor, Collins Twahiirwa.
“He wanted to have a baby with me, he told me and then he pushed me on the bed and raped me!” Anda retells, traumatised by the incident.
The government of Uganda is taking extra measures to protect citizens and tourists in the country against any form of sexual abuse.
Currently, after the media added a loud voice on the rape survivor, the police force is following the case.
Anda shares that her perpetrator was subjected to her shortly after she landed at Entebbe airport in Uganda on the 11th of December last year. The pastor picked her up and she was taken straight to his house in Bugolobi instead of the air b&b she had booked in Makindye.
The tourist tried to file a case at Jinja road police station in Uganda and later the directorate of the criminal investigations department in Kampala Uganda. All this was in vain as she was tossed about.
Her plea for justice was not heard.
The officers in charge said that Anda was playing with a highly placed person, a pastor who was highly connected to top officials in Uganda.
This was unfair and the newspaper, The Daily Monitor saw they had to intervene.
With a history of showing professionalism in the media sector by exposing unethical people in the law enforcement departments in Uganda, the newspaper has hey gone the extra mile when it comes to demonstrating the media’s role in checking if authorities are doing right by their citizens.
In doing so, peace and security in Uganda and neighbouring countries can be achieved.
The efforts of Investigative journalists from The Daily Monitor trying to fight for the tourist’s human rights have led to the successful arrest of several Officers. Some named were Sergeant Oyela Doreen, Detective Corporal Judith Akite, and detective Joyce Ayeleyet and the pastor who ministers with Epikaizo Ministries International a church in Uganda East Africa is in the custody of the police Forces.
Other government authorities have come up to show and prove that the law is being observed to punish Mr Twahirwa and that he was going to be charged in court. The authorities are willing to aid the judicial process. Inclusive of these is the Director of Public Prosecution, the courts of law and prisons.
Uganda’s Daily Monitor went on to show how the tourist’s phone was grabbed from her and a communication she had had with Mr Twahirwa on social media was deleted to destroy evidence. At the police station, the officers forcibly removed their shoes from her feet roughed her up and even locked her in a cell.
She was later ordered to withdraw her case against Mr Twahirwa. And she expressed fear on release that her life was in danger. She said she kept seeing a car with red number plates following her quite a number of times.
Fortunately, the Ugandan government has since secured her and given her protection until she leaves the country.
There are many limitations to curbing sexual abuse.
Firstly, sexual abuse is something that has been getting normalised in Uganda. Women reporting rape cases have increased more in recent years. They come with the hope of ending the cycle of unwanted sexual abuse.
In Uganda, most of the girls who face sexual abuse are aged 15 to 19 years face sexual abuse.
“No one cares about sexual abuse in Kampala,” says Naiga a street vendor on Nabugabo street in Uganda, “When we are walking to and from the city, we walk in fear, we go through a lot of sexual violence including visual sexual advances and physical.”
“We are not peaceful neither are we secure,” she adds.
Some of the cultural leaders miss direct women in Africa when they say sexual matters should not be talked about.
One of the government leaders under her women’s organisation tried to fight sexual violence, rape in particular. She narrates her story of how she tried to fight sexual abuse in homes anonymously.
Her rape included her parents. However, she says one of the limitations is family and the setting in African culture is that the girl child never talks about sexual matters: “This is causing women who have survived sexual abuse and violence to suffer silently.”
This is where social attitudes and systems regard sexual violence as a normal happening in everyday life. Sexual violence is normalised to an extent that there is no consequence for the act, especially in rural areas.
However, in the 21st Century, Uganda has changed its view on rape. Rape is a crime. It is not encouraged in any way and is punishable and one can be sentenced to jail. The days when such acts were belittled are long gone.
In addition to this, it has been found that criminals commonly give the excuse of slut shaming. They argue that their victim was badly dressed and therefore tempted them to commit the act.
During a mentorship session for high school teenagers by Joseph Amooti a teacher at Nsaaale secondary school in Uganda, some of the teenagers mentioned back, “ We are men, we eat what we see!”
The teacher confronted the teenager saying that was a high level of indiscipline resulting from lack of self-control and that it was highly punishable.
He went on to stress the point saying, “Human beings are not animals, they can control their minds.” She added that through this mindset conflict can be solved in society and peace and security can be promoted.
Such culture also defines manhood as dominant and sexually aggressive. Some men think that the more they conquer women sexually, the stronger they are. These thoughts and mindsets are shaped while children are in school and they become hard to change in their adulthood.
Boys instead grow up to use sexual power as a tool of dominance.
Another limitation to curbing this vice is the sexual jokes that are ignored.
On social media, many sexual jokes are ignored that circulate on WhatsApp, Tiktok, Face book and Twitter. These illusive jokes come in the form of videos, pictures and texts that are greatly influencing the rise of sexual violence.
Women leaders seeking change have been coming up with solutions to solve the problem of rape to promote peace and security but feedback from women victims and support groups is very disappointing. This has also been limited by the lack of full representation and support from the courts of law.
Culturally women in Uganda are also shy about speaking about sex and sexual violence claiming it’s taboo to talk about such topics in public. This is greatly contributing to the rise in violence and rape against women and girls.
Authorities inclusive of community leaders also at times work hard but in vain. The victims will struggle to provide proof by not speaking out hence stopping any investigations.
On top of that, the number of authorities who are men is significantly higher than women working in institutions across Uganda. These include schools as well, where the children’s peace and security should be paramount.
Lucy Ekaju a woman leader of the Uganda Journalists’ Union says many survivors are silenced by fear, trauma and shame. She further emphasises that women, especially victims of domestic violence should speak out if the problem of rape should be managed and overcome in Uganda.
She mentions a WhatsApp group she boldly opened up where women including those in leading authority bodies such as human rights, the police and other law enforcement bodies communicate. The group has allowed women to speak up and is helping them to get instant responses and referrals on issues of sexual violence and other sexual threats.
“This is one of the only ways we can bring rape to an end!” she declares.
Gillian Pneuma is one of the female leaders at Agape women’s union an NGO situated in Entebbe in Uganda. She rescues prostitutes from the streets and other areas.
Gillian mentions that from her statistics, a number of women are abused daily due to poverty: “This is because they stay on the streets and cannot afford a basic life to afford basics like shelter,” she tells us.
The survivors who come to her for help shared that if they had nowhere else to run they know they could have been raped.
At times they could run to the police thinking they would be rescued and instead face rape there as well.
Gillian points out that prostitution could be regarded as a business but it is purely sexual violence as it includes a woman’s suffering and torture. She adds that such acts result in fatherless children and further leads to self-hate which greatly contributes to conflict among human beings.
The female leader rescues women voluntarily by giving them shelter and food and also empowering them with skills such as making handmade cosmetics and soaps.
She has also partnered up with the private sector Foundation in Uganda and teaches women how to cook.
Her mission of empowering female prostitutes is to ensure one of the UN‘s sustainable development goals which is to ensure peace and security.
The international communities inclusive of UN and UNESCO bodies call upon governments in Uganda and the rest of the world to solve conflict-related sexual violence to promote peace and security.
It has been researched internationally that rape is used as a tactic of war to terrorise communities. Indeed sexual violence is an immediate attack on peace and security.
When women are affected, the children too are affected and then the community onto the country and neighbours. There is no trust and love but rather fear and hatred.
There are examples of countries where there are extremist groups that are known for terrorism. These include Nigeria, Syria and Yemen. It has been seen that rape has been being used as a terrorism tactic which is strongly being fought.
The United Nations strongly calls for justice for women. There can be no justice if women’s rights are violated all over the world.
Women have a big role in ensuring peace and security in homes communities and countries which was recently demonstrated during the lockdown period of the 2020 pandemic where women leaders were seen in homes and communities taking the lead to ensure peace and security at community and national levels.
The UN considers that Justice for women should be a priority for global actions. In the UN resolution for peace and security are the four pillars which include the following:
Protection, women must be protected by the law and authorities and cases of gender-based violence (GBV) must be addressed by the courts of law.
Prevention, here women and other forms of executive bodies must prevent conflict.
Relief and recovery, where aid and support should be given to different programs of relief to women and girls.
Participation, where women must be included in decision making like voting and representing in any form of negotiations.
Conclusively, the gap in the implementation of the UN policies to fight rape is still there. It is up to governments and authorities to strive hard to stop this vice of conflict to achieve peace and security.
This story is part of the African Women in Media (AWiM) Peace and Security Journalism Programme in partnership with UNESCO, through the IPDC framework.
