Parliament has this evening passed the Children’s Amendment Bill 2015 into law.
The amended law seeks to strengthen the protection of children’s rights and among the amendments is a provision restricting legal guardianship of children to Ugandan citizens.
The mover of the Private Members Bill and Ayivu County MP Bernard Atiku says this is a great achievement in the struggle for children’s rights in Uganda.
He further says the above provision coupled with the created children’s authority will go a long way in protecting the country’s children from various forms of exploitation.
Earlier in the day, the issue legal guardianship in Uganda by non-citizens sparked heated debate in parliament as legislators debated amendments to the bill.
Serere Woman MP Alice Alaso proposed that legal guardianship be restricted to only citizens so as to strengthen monitoring of these children.
This attracted mixed reactions from various legislators including Joseph Sewungu, Alex Byarugaba, Odonga Otto, and Rosemary Seninde among others. Some welcomed the proposal while others thought it would be suicide for Uganda to shut herself way from other countries in today’s global village.
Story By Benjamin Jumbe
