The State Minister for Youth and Children Affairs, Hon Florence Nakiwala Kiyingi has revealed that 623 street children have so far been evacuated from Kampala streets over the past few months despite of insufficient funds.
She however noted that out of Shs3.4billion which the ministry requested to facilitate the smooth running of the programme in all parts of the country only Shs1billion was released and thus has slowed down the relocation process.
“To date we have evacuated 623 children from the street of Kampala, urban and peri-urban areas in Uganda though the program has not spread to the rest of the country,” she said.
She explained that the reason why the programme is not in different areas of the country is due to inadequate funds to facilitate the relocation of the street children.
“We requested for Shs3.4billion as at June 30th, they released Shs1billion from the government coffers for three partner agencies i.e. Uganda Police, KCCA and the Ministry of Gender so by this time we still have a deficit of Shs2.4billion required to suitability and maintain the project,” she said.
She noted that for the first time in the history of Uganda, there are few children on streets.
“We are destroying temporally residents, the buveera polythene bags in the suburb of Kampala where they are renting Shs500 a night, we are destroying them,” she noted.
She said the ministry has created 139 permanent residents for the homeless children in different parts of the country and the struggle continues.
“But on top of that we are trying to excitedly bring on board new activities which are meant to excite them to remain where they are, such as sports.”
She noted that the ministry is trying to create the environment that combines talent with school.
“Because to me school takes priority but you don’t need to get the person from the street and make a person abandon his or her talent,” she said.
She stated that so far 118 children are undergoing intensive sports training in a move to promote their talents in various fields.
She said soon these street children are expected to compete in the Eastern Africa Regional games.