By Christopher Nyeko
Gulu: The Acting Prime Minister of Ker Kwaro Acholi, Okello Okuna, is blaming the high cases of gender-based violence being registered in many households within the Acholi sub-region, especially in urban areas, as being fueled by boda-boda cyclists.
Okuna reveals that spouses who are mostly working-class people have resorted to hiring boda-boda cyclists to spy on their partners whenever they are out of home for duty.
He states that whenever a particular boda-boda cyclist is tasked with the responsibility of working as a spy, some of them will give false reports to the person, either a woman or a man, who is hiring them, and once wrong information is given, the couples may get engaged in domestic squabbles.
On Tuesday, Okuna was speaking at the Acholi Inn Hotel in Gulu City during the launch of the 16-day activism against gender-based violence campaign organized by USAID under the theme “Let’s Change Our Story.”
Nyeko Geoffrey, one of the boda-boda cyclists in Gulu city says some of the boda-boda are involved in this dirty deal, something he says is causing a lot of family breakouts.
According to Nyeko, some boda-boda cyclists are being used for ferrying married women to lodges where they are invited by rich men for sex and merrymaking.
However, Emmy Daniel Ocen, the chairperson of the Gulu City West Boda-Boda Association, disputed the findings by Ker Kwaro Acholi, saying that their office has not registered such cases.
Ocen party agrees that it may be happening, but because it is more of a deal, members who may have been involved in such practices cannot now come out openly to disclose their deal to the association.
He, however, advises the boda-boda men to desist from being used for dirty businesses.
The recent GBV report obtained from the Gulu district probation department pointed out that the district had registered a total of 1917 cases of gender-based violence in the past 8 months.
The reported incidents were both physiological abuses and physical and sexual assaults.
The 2023 16 days of activism against gender-based violence will be celebrated under the theme”Unite! Invest to prevent violence against women and girls.”
The campaign calls on citizens to show how much they care about ending violence against women and girls by sharing the actions they are taking to create a world free from violence towards women.
This year’s campaign also calls on governments worldwide to share how they are investing in gender-based violence prevention.
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