Pallisa, Uganda | What started as a fundraising for St. Jude Catholic Church Opogona on Sunday ended as a community cry for help.
At Opogono Primary School in Kibale Town Council, parents, leaders and MPs sat together not just to raise UGX 30 million for bricks, but to talk about the boys they are losing to drugs.
For many in Kibale, the trading centres have become a second home for youth and it’s a dangerous one. Marijuana, opium and waragi are consumed openly with unknown source of income.
Opatana Albert of Opwateta sub county said some spots in most trading center are now gazetted by users as no go zones and you don’t cross there unless you are one of them,” he said.
Kibale County MP Okwii Constantine said parents are watching, and some authorities are giving “illegal respect” to the peddlers. He promised tough action.
“I will do it, even if it costs me votes,” Okwii told the congregation.
“Arrest them. Let them go to prison. In less than three years they will come back disciplined, not as thugs but rehabiluted members whom the community will accept their intergration and you will appreciate my efforts,” Hon.Okwii said.
But the MPs agreed arrests alone won’t work. Pallisa District Woman MP Achola Catherine shifted the conversation to work.
“Please young people, abandon unproductive deals. Form groups and get an enterprise,” she said. “Start with modern brick processing. As leaders we shall support you. I will be happy when youth challenge me to buy equipment for them.”
She pledged to begin with women’s groups because of their savings culture, and led by example — donating items worth UGX 1.8 million, plus UGX 250,000 to the choir and mothers’ drama group. She also bought cassava, turkey and matooke for Parish Priest Fr. Acquinas Outa, noting that the poor first season had left many households struggling saying this season should be well utilized .
Still on the character of the youth, Akena Rose of Kibale Town Council said mothers are woken at 3am by sons demanding food with threats.
“They don’t do any domestic work. They steal and gatecrash functions. Then parents are blamed. Maybe arrest will make them sober,”Akena said.
Former LC3 Chairperson Ocheng Simon said respect for parents has collapsed and it will take all of us to fix it.
Vincent Oluka Epoketom, LC3 of Kameke, gave the numbers that silenced the crowd: “P1 has 130 pupils. P3 has 90. P7 has less than 40. Where did the rest go?” He said many have dropped out and some 19-year-olds are now forcing parents to divide land so they can sell it.
Fr. Outa blessed the donors and prayed for “protection, health, care and provision.”
Okwii raised UGX 5 million through an auction and left most items for the church to resell. “Building the church and serving our people should be our concern as Christians,” he said.
In a rare moment, Okwii also hosted all aspirants for the Kibale County seat, including Olebo Emmanuel Odeke who served as MC.
“My brother Olebo attacked me publicly, but today we are here together,” Okwii said. He reminded people that fighting to keep Kibale County in Pallisa was never a one-man job. Olebo agreed: “Kibale needs all of us. The focus should be development, not finger pointing.”
Achola also warned against hypocrisy. “Let us not give the church a bad image. It puzzles me when someone arrested for crime still carries a Christian name.
In Kibale, the UGX 30 million target for St. Jude is no longer just about a building. To residents, the church is becoming a recovery room — a place for prayer, for jobs, and for bringing back the sons the trading centres have taken.