RDC Calls for Castration, Life Terms for Child Defilement Convicts

What the report says

Obongi Resident District Commissioner Samuel Mpimbaza Hashaka has called for harsher punishment for people convicted of defiling children, including life imprisonment and castration. His remarks, reported by Nile Post, were made during celebrations marking 50 years of the Stromme Foundation, where he also raised wider concerns about child welfare, school attendance and protection in vulnerable communities in Uganda’s West Nile region.

Hashaka said poverty, lack of school feeding and teenage pregnancy are helping drive school dropout, especially among girls. He argued that some children leave school at lunchtime because they have no food and do not return, leaving them at greater risk of exploitation and abuse. He urged stronger measures to keep children in school and said Parliament should tighten laws on defilement, including reconsidering how the law distinguishes between simple and aggravated defilement.

According to the report, Hashaka also pressed for tougher action against suspects in such cases, saying bail can interfere with investigations. He referred to previous cases in Obongi in which he had been involved in calls for arrests over alleged child sexual abuse. Separately, he encouraged government and development partners to adopt Stromme Foundation-style monitoring and supervision in public programmes, and to invest more in school feeding and learning materials as a way to improve retention. The broader context, beyond this speech, is Uganda’s continuing debate over how to reduce child sexual violence and keep vulnerable children in school.