Poverty and hunger which has resulted from the long drought in eastern Uganda has led to parents there marrying off their under age daughters after being paid a bag of dry cassava or 50,000 shillings.( equivalent of 20 US dollars.)
The girls being sold off that cheaply are mostly aged between 14 1nd 17 years. According to World vision recent assessment of the situation, more that 90 per cent of the children in Teso are married off below the age of 18.
Police in Teso has started to probe into child marriages. The head of the police family and child protection department in Teso, at Soroti police station Margaret Adong said that the reason parents attach a price to children is because if the rising famine and poverty levels in Teso.
She told government Newspaper, The New Vision ”During famine girls are married off so that the bride price can be used to feed the remaining members of the family.”
