Friday, June 14, 2024
By Nakitto Joselyn Elizabeth
As the global community eagerly anticipates the World Elder Abuse Awareness Day on June 15th, the Minister of State for Elderly Affairs, Honorable Dominic Mafwabi Gidudu (MP), has unveiled the agenda for this year’s observance.
During the press address on Wednesday, June 12, 2024 at the Media Center in Kampala, he articulated that the upcoming event will be used to measure the interventions against rights abuse by the government and other stakeholders, as well as raise awareness on the rights of older persons under a theme “Gender-Based Violence in Old Age: A Call for Action.”
Mafwabi states that individuals aged 60 years and older are classified as older persons and face various forms of mistreatments including, false accusations like witchcraft against older women, physical abuse, sexual abuse, domestic violence, psychological abuse, financial abuse, neglect, isolation among other forms of abuse.
He perceives this day as an amplification of the societal benefits derived from safeguarding the rights of older individuals. He further assured the press that a law will soon be passed embedded with penalties for the violation of Elderly Persons rights.
He mentioned that the Government of Uganda is implementing the Social Enterprise Grant for Older Persons (SEGOP) aged 60-79, which is an alternative governmental initiative designed to support older individuals through a group-oriented approach.
The initiative aims to support vulnerable older persons to participate in National development through engaging in income generating activities to increase household income.This effort is in addition to the SAGE program, which is focused on individuals aged 80 and above, as well as the 10% loan-based fund under the Parish Development Model (PDM).
Mafwabi also urges all Ugandans and members of the media community to uphold and advocate for the rights of elderly individuals, allowing them to age gracefully as they anticipate the national festivities to be held at the Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala on Saturday, June 15th, 2024.
While we anticipate the results of the recently concluded National Housing and Population Census 2024 to accurately determine the population of elderly individuals in the country, the UBOS 2020 Statistical Abstract estimated 2.2 million older persons out of the total population estimate of 45.2 million.