Energy ministry to investigate children left behind by Chinese contractors
The Ministry of Energy is set to investigate the scope and numbers of mothers and children left behind by Chinese contractors.
NTV panorama has been investigating the plight of such children who were fathered by Chinese construction engineers and laborers who have been constructing the Karuma hydropower power plant which is to be commissioned later this year, four years behind schedule.
Civil society organizations have since raised an alarm over the prevalence of sex-related crimes at construction sites.
Gulu Women Economic Development and Globalization director, Pamela Angwech says the prosecution exercise of the Chinese contracts has been difficult due to a number of reasons.
“Once you start the prosecution processes, you can’t find a perpetrator anymore at the end of it all because you know that it begins with a lot of investigation, either the Chinese workers are transferred and you cannot trace them anymore and sometimes even the leaders who work in the section where the incidents happen are new people. At the end of it all, there’s nobody to support the case,” Angwech said.
Jurubabel Opio Okori, the Clan leader of Adok of the Langi community has asked government to come to the rescue of these mothers.
He says their plight has been worsened by a flawed justice system, especially from local councils and police where particularly sexual abuse cases, rape, and defilement are always swept under the carpet.
