URN.Defilement of girls suffering from nodding syndrome is one of the issues the community is struggling to come to terms with.
The Third Deputy Prime Minister, Rukia Nakadama, has said that suspected defilers of girls suffering from nodding syndrome should be subjected to paternity tests.
Rukia was speaking on Saturday at Tumangu Nodding Care center, where she had gone to visit a section of victims of nodding syndrome.
She described the men who are defiling the debilitated girls as inhumane, and tasked local leaders to, with the relatives of the relatives of the children, identify the men so that they are arrested and subjected to paternity tests.
William Komakech, the RDC of Kitgum shared the same view, saying that the children born by girls suffering from nodding syndrome cannot continue to live without their father.
Defilement of girls suffering from nodding syndrome is one of the issues the community is struggling to come to terms with.
Records from the coordinators of nodding syndrome in Kitgum indicate that at least 180 girls have gotten pregnant in Labongo Akwang and Labongo Amida, the two sub-counties where the nodding syndrome is most prevalent.
In an earlier interview, Joe Otoo, the coordinator of the nodding syndrome in Labongo Akwang said at 84 of the girls were impregnated in the sub-county, with some having as many as four children.
Otoo revealed that the defilers wait when the girls have strayed from home and are suffering an attack and defile them. He says that since many children with the syndrome are incoherent, others can’t talk or remember events that happen to them.
According to Otoo, even those who have been arrested have not been prosecuted because the parents cannot follow up the case to the conclusion because they are impoverished and have no time to attend to other needs that keep them from home for long.
Otoo appealed to organizations offering legal services to help and represent the victims free of charge so that the victims get justice. He explained that the defilement of children suffering from nodding syndrome is compounding the burden of the parents, some of who have more than one girl who has been impregnated more than once.
Otoo said there are an estimated 1,006 children suffering from nodding syndrome in Kitgum district. Labongo Amida has the highest number of 510, Labongo Akwang has 476 and Kitgum Matidi sub county has 20 patients.
