As President Museveni was in Bushenyi on Monday being complemented for championing women emancipation, in Kampala women activists indicted him for presiding over a “rotten” public healthcare system in which 435 women per 100,000 births die in labour.
The women activists, wearing black, red and orange T-shirts, calling themselves ‘Women for Peace’ group, staged a demonstration from the city centre to Mulago Hospital where they donated an assortment of items to mothers in the labour wards.
They accused the NRM government of corruption and nepotism. “Our children graduate from universities but can’t find jobs because they don’t know people in government,” said UPC President, Miria Kalule Obote, in a joint statement issued by the women.
Miria is the current president of the Inter-Party Alliance that comprises five opposition political parties—FDC, UPC, JEEMA, CP and SDP under which the ‘Women for Peace’ group operates.
She told journalists at Christ the King Church that President Museveni had not delivered on the promises he made to women when he came to power 24 years ago.
“Our children continue to die young because of preventable diseases,” she said, referring to Museveni’s January 29, 1986 speech in which the President was quoted as saying that “the people of Uganda should only die from natural causes that are beyond our control…”
The women noted that 24 years later, they continue to deliver babies on the floor of hospital wards and hospitals continue to lack basics such as soap and gloves. To back their rhetoric with action, the IPA women donated soap and sugar to new and expectant mothers at Mulago.
“No, we need change. Mothers are suffering; we deliver babies on the bare floor. Twenty-four years down the road, women still die of bleeding in hospitals,” they chanted during the demonstration.
They criticised the Universal Primary Education programme, saying that large numbers of girls continue to drop out of school annually.
Some women carried placards reading: “Safe motherhood is a right.” “Remember the mother who died in Mityana Hospital in labour because she didn’t have Shs 5,000!”
According to the 2006 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey, infant mortality rate stands at 76 deaths per 1,000 live births.
“This means that one in every 13 babies born in Uganda does not live to the first birthday,” reads the report in part, adding that 67 out of 1,000 babies also die before reaching their fifth birthday.
“The overall under five mortality rate is 137 deaths per 1,000 live births, which implies that one in every seven Ugandan babies does not survive to live their fifth birthday.”
The report says that by 2006, the maternal mortality rate stood at 435 deaths per 100,000 live births. Although this was an improvement from 527 deaths five years ago, it remains higher than the Millennium Development Goal of at least 131.
Speaking during the national women’s day celebrations in Bushenyi, President Museveni acknowledged the high levels of maternal mortality rates but blamed it on medical doctors whom he says steal drugs from government hospitals.
“There is still a problem of maternal mortality. I am aware of it but I have not studied it thoroughly. I will take time during my country tour to study it....I may attribute the problem to doctors who are stealing drugs but it could be corruption in hospitals. I have established a team in my office to arrest these culprits,” he said in Bushenyi.
This year’s celebrations were held under the theme, ‘Consolidating equal opportunities for women: a path to prosperity for all.’ But one of the protestors, Jennifer Kalungi, 30, and a mother of three, said that there was no cause to celebrate.
“Most hospitals were built by previous governments but this regime has failed to equip them with drugs. As a result, mothers continue to die in hospitals because there are no gloves and razorblades,” she said.
Immaculate Atayo, 66, a retired teacher from Soroti, complained about the lack of drugs in hospitals and deteriorating education standards under UPE. “How can you teach 200 children in one class and expect quality education?”
This was the first time Police cleared the IPC women to demonstrate and the first time the women also sought Police protection for their protest. They have previously been dispersed when they attempted to hold demonstrations at the Electoral Commission offices and at Parliament.
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