The Electoral Commission is compiling a Register of Women Residents in each village/cell across Uganda to enable all willing female residents aged 18 years and above, to register in order to participate in Women Councils and Committees Elections, 2022, within their respective villages.

The compilation (registration) exercise commenced on Friday 10th June 2022 and was scheduled to close today, Monday, 13th June 2022.

However, due to higher numbers of applicants at some registration centers since the beginning of this exercise, and requests from key stakeholders in the electoral process, the Electoral Commission has found it necessary and taken a decision to extend the compilation (registration) period for four (4) more days, starting from Tuesday 14th June and ending on Friday 17th June 2022, after which, there will be no further extension.

The exercise will continue to be conducted at registration centers in each village/cell throughout Uganda, starting from 8:00am to 6:00pm, throughout the extended period.

The chairperson of EC, Justice Byabakama Mugenyi Simon said the purpose of this extension is to provide an opportunity for all eligible women who have not yet registered to do so.

He added that registration of female residents in each village throughout Uganda will not be conducted after Friday 17^th June 2022.

The general public has been further reminded to carefully note the following:

Only willing Ugandan females of eighteen (18) years and above, who are residents in their respective cells/villages are eligible to register.

The registration exercise shall be for the purpose of electing the Village Women’s Executive Committee.

The village women residents shall be registered in a customized Register Book provided by the Electoral Commission.

A person appearing for registration shall be required to provide the following particulars to the Village Election Official: Names, National Identity Number or Application ID Number, Age, Gender, and Village of Residence.

The registration exercise shall be free of charge.

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The State Minister for Labour, Employment and Industrial Relations, Col (rtd) Charles Engola Macodowgo has said the Ministry is planning to bring together all Resident District Commissioners (RDCs),Chief Admnistrative Officers(CAOs) in order to devise strategies of strengthening Labour Officers to help them fight Child Labour.

Mr Macodwogo made the remarks during commemoration of the 2022 World Day Against Child Labour in Kabarole District. The 2022 theme was: Universal Social Protection to End Child Labour.

He revealed that Labour Officers are very critical in the fight against Child Labour and urged district authorities to make use of them.

“As the Ministry of Gender, we shall make sure that we strengthen the labour officers and they do the work especially on the elimination of Child Labour. To curb Child Labour, the role of Labour Officers is very critical.Child Labour deprives children of their childhood and the opportunity to develop their full potential. It interferes with their right to education,” Mr Macodowgo said.

He added that: “In the coming days, I will engage the RDC,the CAOs and Clerks and we shall look for how to strengthen Labour Officers in the districts. I request the Local Governments and the the political leaders to use the Labour Officers to eliminate Child Labour. The Labour Office is key in the elimination of Child Labour”

In Uganda, incidences of Child Labour increased during the COVID-19 pandemic from 21% to 36% according to the Uganda National Household Survey 2019/2020.

Busoga and Bukedi had the highest proportion of children aged 5-17 years involved in Child Labour at 29% and 28% respectively. More children in the rural (31%) than urban (20%) areas were involved in Child Labour (with household chores inclusive).

Speaking at the same event Ms Victoria Rusoke,the State Minister for Local Government and Kabarole District Woman MP, who represented the Vice President Jessica Alupo,said she is going to task district authorities to provide detailed breakdown of statistics of children who are in school.

“I am going to ask the Labour Officer and the DEO to give me the statitsics of the children who are in schol and the childen not in school and then we declare a serious war to make sure that all the Children return to school,” Ms Rusoke said.

According to figures by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), even after schools were re-opened in January 2022, 1 in 10 school children did not report back to school.

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Pope Francis’ trip to Africa slated in July has been cancelled because of the 85-year-old pontiff’s knee ailment, the Vatican said on Friday, raising questions about his ability to walk during the rest of his papacy.

The decision to scrap the July 2-7 trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan was taken “with regret” at the request of the pope’s doctors, who have been treating him for a torn ligament in his knee.

He has been using a wheelchair for the last month, although he has kept up his activity, including a meeting on Friday with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the pope, who was elected in 2013, would skip the trip “in order not to jeopardize the results of the therapy that he is undergoing for his knee” and that it would take place at “a later date to be determined”.

Vatican sources have said the pope has been receiving several injections a week for the ailment, as well as physical therapy and that he had hoped to be able to regain at least partial ability to walk before the trip was due to start.

The surprise announcement came just two days after the Vatican released the names of journalists whose requests to accompany the pope on the papal plane had been accepted and preparations in both countries were well underway.

The Vatican did not say if the pope’s scheduled July 24-30 trip to Canada would be affected by his knee ailment.

Pope John Paul II, who died in 2005 after a 27-year pontificate, used wheeled platforms to move along the aisles of St. Peter’s Basilica in his final years but Parkinson’s disease severely affected his whole body, including his breathing.

The trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan in the summer heat would have been difficult for the 85-year-old pontiff under normal circumstances but mobility problems would have made it excessively stressful.

It would have entailed five plane journeys and three Masses that would have required him to remain standing for long periods. He was also due to make more than a dozen addresses, meet political officials and Church groups and visit camps for displaced people in both countries.

When he went to Malta in April, the pope had to use a freight lift to board and leave the planes because of a knee problem.

In February, the pope cancelled a weekend trip two days before it was due to start because of a flare-up of the knee pain as well as Ash Wednesday services the following week.

His condition improved for a while but several times in the past few weeks, he was forced to delegate the celebration of papal Masses to a senior cardinal while he remained seated and read the homily.

The upcoming trip’s centrepiece was to have been the July 5-7 stop in South Sudan, a visit that had repeatedly been delayed because of security concerns.

South Sudan is predominantly Christian and Francis was to have made that part of the trip with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

“I am praying for my dear brother Pope Francis and share his regret …,” Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, spiritual head of the world’s Anglicans, said in a statement.

“We are optimistic he will come when his health improves,” South Sudan’s Catholic bishop, Stephen Ameyu Martin Mulla, told reporters in the capital, Juba.

South Sudan gained independence in 2011. Civil war erupted in 2013 in which 400,000 people were killed. The two main sides signed a peace deal in 2018 but the country is still plagued by hunger and fighting.

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