The Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Thomas Tayebwa, has led Parliament in paying tribute to former Olympic athlete, Rebecca Cheptegei. Cheptegei died in Kenya following a petrol attack by her former boyfriend.
Rebecca Cheptegei who died about two weeks ago, was a cross-country, long-distance and marathon runner who represented Uganda on national and international competitions, winning a couple of medals.
Tayebwa described her attack as unfortunate and called for critical solutions to end domestic violence in Uganda.
The deputy speaker made the call during the plenary sitting on Tuesday, September 17, 2024.
“It is unfortunate that we keep losing people in such a manner, especially through domestic violence. It is something we have to sit down and see how best we can handle. It is very unfortunate,” Tayebwa said.
Consequently, women activists expressed their concern over the brutal murder of Cheptegei, saying that she had yet again fallen victim to a vicious act of gender-based violence and that her murder had shattered the future of her young daughters.
“The systematic negligence of gender-based violence is in itself an act of violence against women. Women are not disposable; their deaths are not mere statistics, and we will not allow their voices to be silenced. Rebecca’s murder is not an isolated event; read a statement by the Women Probono Initiative.
The Police Annual Crime Report 2023 shows that 14,681 gender-based violence cases were reported to Uganda Police in 2023, an indication that 40 cases were being reported to Police every day on average.
Globally, every 11 minutes, a woman or girl is killed by a partner or family member, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
