Family conflicts are the major cause of high incidences of suicide in Pader District, according to a report presented to parliament by the Minister of State Northern Uganda Rehabilitation, Grace Kwiyucwiny Freedom, who said there has been 15 cases of suicide in that district in 2018.
According to minister Kwiyucwiny, the domestic conflicts are between children and parents as well as wives and husbands and that the conflicts arise from various issues such as; early marriages, early pregnancies, land and related properties.
The minister in her report says people committed suicide using drugs /pesticides (Dudumaki).
On November 16, 2018, MP Lucy Aciro Otim (Aruu North) raised the concern over high suicide incidences in the district, which made legislators to demand that government investigate the matter and put in place appropriate interventions.
“As I investigated this fact I have established that there are indeed cases of suicide in Pader District. The reported cases of suicide in Aruu North since January 20I8 are as follows: Lapur Sub Countty,7 cases; Lagur Sub County, 4 cases; Taranga Sub County, 2 cases,” the minister says in his report.
The minister reports that in Aruu South Constituency suicide cases happened, with Ogom Sub County have one case, and Puranga Sub County had one case, giving a total of 15 registered in the district.
CASCS.
However in Acholi region, no suicide cases were established, say in Gulu, during the year, though there was a higher prevalence in Omoro District, especially Koro Sub County. “Mainly husbands kill their wives and children and also end up killing themselves,” the minister says in his report.
The minister’s investigations revealed that many suicide cases are not reported to police as the victims are quickly buried.
The minister said non-governmental organisations which were counselling people are no longer doing that. “It has also been confirmed that many Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) which carried out psychosocial support and counselling programmes have since closed their programmes,” he says in the report.
As such, he says, there is growing need for psychosocial support and counselling.
Steps taken by the minister to help address the matter are; working with Regional Security and District Security office to establish the scope of the matter. A final report will be share with the district leaders next week.
The says he has called NGO meeting to help reactivate psychosocial support and counselling programmes in Northern Uganda starting with Pader and Omoro Districts where the prevalence is high.
He plans to meet the Pader LC5 Chairperson on Tuesday to discuss further how this case can be addressed, He says he will request the leadership to include psychosocial support and counselling in the district budget.
“I will interact with the cultural and religious leaders and call upon their interventions to counsel and inculcate their cultural values in order to strengthen the family institution amidst the remnants of challenges from the long conflict in Northern Uganda,” he says.
“We have discussed the urgent need for psychosocial support and counselling, and for this FY (financial year) we shall try to adjust in order to get some funds but next FY it will be a fully budgeted for item,” he concludes.