Charles Ichogor, the Kotido Resident District Commissioner, RDC, without mentioning when the operations would take place, says the move to intensify the crackdown on street children was decided upon following a security meeting held on February 10, 2025, at the Kotido district headquarters.
Kotido district authorities have resolved to step up operations to eliminate street children and rehabilitate them. For a long time, the district has grappled with the plight of street kids crowding the streets of Kotido municipality, mainly in the central division.
Some of these children are allegedly involved in criminal activities such as smoking marijuana, pickpocketing, housebreaking, and simple burglary. Charles Ichogor, the Kotido Resident District Commissioner, RDC, without mentioning when the operations would take place, says the move to intensify the crackdown on street children was decided upon following a security meeting held on February 10, 2025, at the Kotido district headquarters.
The meeting was attended by key stakeholders who provide child-related services. Ichogor states that a resolution was made, and a committee headed by the District Internal Security Officer (DISO) was formed. They will soon carry out an operation to arrest the street children and reunite them with their families so that they can be enrolled in schools.
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Peter Abrahams Irar, the Kotido Municipal Mayor, welcomed the move but appealed to Ichogor for frequent operations, claiming that the children often return to the streets once the intensity of the operations calms down.
Irar also advised that the authorities, together with other stakeholders, should devise means of supporting some of the street kids with scholastic materials and other necessities, saying that a section of them are orphans who were forced onto the streets due to the biting hunger situation in their homes and a lack of guidance.
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Relatedly, Ichogor says that during the same operations, they will also arrest parents whose children are not in school and are instead at home taking care of animals or engaging in mini-businesses, such as selling boiled eggs, as per the enforcement of the Karamoja education declaration. This declaration stipulates that all children of school-going age should be sent to school.
Kilenga Bondry
Freelancer