The Minister of State for Children and Youth Affairs, Faith Mercy Lakisa has warned parents against the vice of sending their children to the streets, using them as sources of making them money.
Ms Lakisa, who is also the Woman Member of Parliament for Alebtong District, said in the two months she has been in office, she has observed that much as authorities like Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) carry out operations to take street children back to their homes upcountry, they are soon returned by those who profit from them.
“Children on the streets are businesses to some parents and this should stop. We cannot tackle the issue of street children without teaching parents to be responsible. You cannot deploy your child on the street because you expect them to make you Shs10,000 in a week or month,” Ms Lakisa said.
The minister made the remarks during a two-day orientation meeting of Members of Parliament under the Uganda Parliamentary Forum for Children (UPFC) on September 2, 2026, at Imperial Golf View Hotel in Entebbe.
The UPFC is a non-partisan parliamentary platform that was established during the Seventh Parliament to create an avenue through which the situation of children, particularly those in difficult circumstances, can be addressed through legislation, policy, resource allocation and oversight.
The forum is the bridge between Parliament, government, children, communities, civil society, development partners and technical institutions and was created to tackle issues of child protection, education, health, nutrition, early childhood development, child poverty, disability inclusion, alternative care, teenage pregnancy, child marriage, harmful practices, children in conflict with the law and meaningful child participation, among others.
While making a keynote address on the role of Parliament in advancing child wellbeing in Uganda, Ms Flavia Kabahenda, the former Woman Member of Parliament for Kyegegwa District, noted that the wellbeing of children is not a social sector issue alone but the core of Uganda’s human capital and Vision 2040.
Yet, she said, the situation remains critical, with 44 per cent of children suffering multidimensional poverty and living in households that spend less than $41.5 (Shs147,600) per month, deprived of basic needs.
Ms Kabahenda’s presentation highlighted that only 10.3 per cent of children under five have birth certificates, limiting legal identity and access to services. Among children under five, 26 per cent are stunted, 2.9 per cent are wasted, 10.2 per cent are underweight and 30.4 per cent are anaemic.
One in four children experience sexual violence before 15 years while one in four girls give birth before turning 18.
“Investing in children is not charity or a favour. With 50 per cent of our population being children, how we legislate, budget and oversee today determines whether Uganda reaps a demographic dividend or faces a demographic disaster. The law is on our side, the data is clear and the budget opportunity should be made. Parliament must move from passing laws for children to securing accountability for children’s wellbeing,” Ms Kabahenda said.
Ms Kabahenda also decried government’s unfulfilled promises, where the Ministry of Education and Sports pledged to give sanitary pads to girls in government schools during the 2015/2016 campaigns, a promise that has never been fulfilled.
“Increase and protect child protection and early childhood funding, legislate to strengthen school retention by approving school feeding policy, sanitary pad banks to keep girls in school, and re-entry for teenage mothers,” Ms Kabahenda urged MPs in the 12th Parliament.
On the situational analysis of children in Uganda, Mr Sande Alex Bashaija, the Senior Probation and Welfare Officer at the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MGLSD), said parenting, specifically child neglect, is not only the most reported category of violence against children but that a significant proportion of children are left alone or under the care of another young child.
“Harsh punishment is an acceptable way of disciplining children in the majority of homes. Male involvement in child care and protection is very low, while parental engagement in activities such as reading and looking at their books, telling stories, singing and playing with their own children is very low,” Mr Sande said.
For his part, Mr Timothy Opobo, the Executive Director at the AfriChild Centre, said much as Uganda has strong policy foundations in place, such as the National Integrated Early Childhood Development Policy (2016), the National Child Policy (2020) and a newly Cabinet-approved Early Childhood Care and Education Policy, implementation on the ground has not yet kept pace with these commitments.
“Uganda’s enrolment lags well behind its East African neighbours, despite comparable income levels, pointing to a policy and financing gap rather than a resource constraint alone. Kenya has integrated early childhood development into its national education system with direct government support and financing. For Uganda, out of more than five million children who are eligible for early childhood development, only 433,258 were enrolled,” Mr Opobo said.
According to the 2024 Uganda Bureau of Statistics National Population and Housing Census report, of Uganda’s 45.9 million total population, children between zero and 17 years are 22.2 million, representing 48 per cent of the total population, while adolescents between 10 and 19 account for 11.4 million. The census report also noted that children under 15 years accounted for 19.4 million.