Women blamed for higher rate of GBV cases in W. Nile

BY ANDREW COHEN AMVESI

ARUA. Traditionally, cases of Gender Based Violence (GBV) in the West Nile region were blamed on men as women were regarded as the weaker sex in the society.

Much as some men quietly suffered in the hands of their women, the fear of public humiliation prohibited them from reporting cases of GBV minted against them.

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However, reports now indicate that men have started coming out to report cases of GBV in their homes to police. Most of the cases attributed to alcoholism are said to be the main cause of fights in homes.

According to Jimmy Anguyo, the police officer in charge of Child and Family protection unit West Nile, a total of eight cases of GBV on men have been reported to police this year.

He said police used not to receive cases of GBV against men because culturally, it is assumed that a man is a man.

“Culture assumes that a man is a man and when a man reports that his wife has beaten him, the community will laugh at him but because of our continued sensitization, men have started coming out to report the women who beat them,” Anguyo told journalists who were undergoing a three-day training organized by Monitoring and Empowerment Program for Young Women (MEMPROW) in Arua.

Anguyo noted that most of the men who report their wives to police usually accuse them of alcoholism which results in quarrel and later fighting.

“Women are drinking more than men these days especially in areas like Logiri sub-county in Arua district, Oluko and Dadamu in Arua City among other places in the West Nile region. When these women go drinking and come back home drunk and their men ask where they have been from, a quarrel usually starts leading to fighting,” Anguyo explained on Thursday.

But Jane Ndaru Amaniyo, a resident of Tinyaku village in Logiri sub-county said they drink because of stress caused by their husbands.

“Women who drink like me do so because they want to nurse the stress caused by their husbands. I always interact with my fellow women who drink and I came to realize that we almost go through the same challenges. If my husband doesn’t provide for the family, what do you expect me to do? Obviously, I need to booze to relieve myself of the stress,” Amaniyo said.

Annet Imvikia Bandaru, another resident of Arua district said a woman has the right to defend herself whenever her husband starts fighting.

“Sometimes we fight back with the aim of defending ourselves, but when we defeat our husbands, it is our chance,” Bandaru said.

The vice has led to cases of divorce in homes across the West Nile region.

However, SP Gasper Obingu-Onzi, the regional police staff officer – West Nile said as police, their role in solving cases of GBV is not to separate families, but to promote dialogue between the worrying parties.

Meanwhile Josephine Angucia, the North Western region police public relations officer, appealed to the general public to cooperate with police in reporting GBV cases regardless of who is affected so as to minimize the cases in the community.

The current police crime statistics shows that from the month of January to August 2022, a total of 135 cases of defilement, 10 cases of rape, 298 cases of domestic violence and 2 indecent assault cases were report to police across the West Nile region.

As a result, West Nile is the second leading region in GBV cases in Uganda after Busoga.