A Church leader on Wednesday came out saying he is deeply disappointed that Uganda’s capital Kampala has enacted legislation criminalizing donations of any form to street children.
Pastor Umar Mulinde of Gospel Life Church, Namasuba blamed “the Kampala Child Protection Ordinance 2019” on scarcity of God-fearing leaders in top offices.
“I think the nation is poised to a wrong direction because genuine believers capitalize on only prayers but shun positions of decision making, leaving important matters to be decided by drunkards, witches and heartless criminal minded greedy people,” Pastor Umar Mulinde asserted.
Among the central themes of the Bible are money and stewardship. And as we see again and again, the principles of stewardship inspire generous giving in our world today.
Is Uganda’s new law on street children against such values?
Speaking to journalists, Kampala’s Lord Mayor, Erias Lukwago, said the law is targeted at parents and agents who are “cashing in” on children.
“It’s now a lucrative business for some individuals who procure these kids from various parts of the country and bring them on to the streets of Kampala,” he said. “It’s a business. We want to bring that to an end.”
Parents of children found begging or selling on the streets will also be penalised, Mr Lukwago said, explaining further how the law will curb the commercial and sexual exploitation of children.
The law is currently restricted to the city of Kampala rather than the rest of the country.
Responding to Pastor Umar Mulinde’s remarks, a section of Christians on social media partly agreed with him noting that giving to the needy, in this case street children, is “lending to God” and as such a biblical principle that should be defended.
Will Christians disobey the directive?
“Me I will give, it’s better to obey God than humans,” Lucky Gloria Chozen, a performing songwriter, dancer and actor responded to Pastor Umar Mulinde.
“I think KCCA is trying to discourage many more people crowding already congested city streets,” another social media user said.
Exploits Fellowship Pastor Solomon Mayanja who works with Kampala Capital City Authority urged citizens to visit the authority head offices for a discussion on how the committee reached the conclusion.
Mr Mayanja revealed that about 30 pastors, 10 Reverends and 30 Imams were consulted.
“And not only religious leaders but all recognized registered NGO’s working with children in Kampala were consulted,” he explained.
“It has taken 3 years this bill to get to this level! These children are brought in the night on buses from Karamoja to work. 3 kids were in our church founded school in Karamoja being helped with every thing but the parents got them and brought them to work on the street in Kampala,” Pastor Mayanja said.
“Wherever you see a kid, there is an elder seated 100 meters away supervising, and those elders are also working for some one. The kid is the real worker, the parent is a supervisor and a big boss somewhere who collects the money from the supervisors later in the evening,” he said.
“Giving these children money doesn’t benefit them, it goes to some rich man,” he concluded.
According to a research done in four urban centres; Kampala, Jinja, Mbale and Busia, Chairperson parliamentary children’s forum Bernard Atiku said last year about 15,000 children are living on the streets and are a security time bomb for the country if they are not helped to become better future citizens.
In 2014, A Uganda Human Rights Commission report detailed that the government’s approach of “resettling and rehabilitating street children without addressing the factors that send children to the streets is an unsustainable solution in the long run” and argued that “there is an urgent need to address the causes and not just the symptoms.”
