Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has flagged off 200 children removed from the city streets for reunification with their families and reintegration into schools and communities in Napak District. The children, who were found unaccompanied and living in hazardous conditions on the streets, underwent rehabilitation, counselling and family tracing at Masuulita Children’s Home before being prepared for their return.
The latest operation is part of intensified efforts by authorities and partner organisations to address child exploitation and trafficking in Kampala, where authorities say children are often brought from rural districts under the guise of seeking work or better opportunities.
At the send-off ceremony on Tuesday night at Masuulita chilren’s home, KCCA Executive Director Hajjat Sharifah Buzeki said the rescue and reintegration programme was intended to restore the children’s rights to family care, education and protection
“This rescue of children and rehabilitating them here and then finally reintegrating them in the communities is an important step to us because it informs reunification, protection, education and reintegration,” Buzeki said. She commended Masuulita Children’s Home for providing shelter, counselling, care and other support to the children.
Buzeki said some of the children were frightened and distressed when they were initially rescued, with some crying while others displayed violent behaviour. However, she said their condition improved during rehabilitation, with the children becoming more settled and willing to return to school.
According to Buzeki, more than 900 children have been rescued from the streets of Kampala since January 2026. The children come from several districts, including Napak, Mbale, Kisoro and Iganga, with Napak reported to be among the districts contributing the highest number.
Eunice Tumwebaze the manager youth and children at KCCA said that efforts to rehabilitate children living on the streets of Kampala are beginning to show encouraging results, with authorities and partner organisations reporting fewer cases of children returning to the streets after receiving support.
She said the rehabilitation involves removing children from the streets and taking them to designated facilities where they can receive care and support aimed at helping them rebuild their lives. “We are not seeing repeat offenders coming back to Kampala, or children coming back to the streets of Kampala, the programme has recorded some successes,” Tumwebaze said.
She mentioned that some of the children who have gone through the rehabilitation process have since returned to education and are now attending secondary school. Dennis Okori the head of programs at UWESO Masulita Children’s Home said poverty and hunger alone don’t explain why large numbers of children from particular communities end up on city streets.
Okori who identified himself as a Karamojong from Karamoja, said many of the children are victims of manipulation and exploitation. “These children are victims they are manipulated and are sometimes made to believe that their families will not survive unless they remain on the streets and send money home,” he said.
Okori disputed claims that hunger was the sole reason children from Napak were being brought to Kampala, noting that other districts in Karamoja facing severe food insecurity do not account for similar numbers of street children in the capital.
Additionaly, he alleged that adults behind some street children demand daily earnings from them, saying some children reported being required to raise at least Shs5,000 a day or face punishment.
He further urged the government to intensify investigations into adults who recruit, transport and exploit children for begging and other activities.Okori also called on non-governmental organisations and UN agencies, including UNICEF, to increase support to local governments, particularly the Department of Gender, which lacks sufficient resources to sustain child-protection operations.
Masuulita Children’s Home, which was established in 1989 to provide temporary or residential care to children whose parents could not be traced, has handled more than 24,000 children over the years, according to its officials.
Okori noted that the home also had spent the previous three days reintegrating children whose families had been traced within the Kampala metropolitan area. Of 64 children reintegrated during that period, only two were subsequently brought back after the communities where they were placed declined to accept them.
He adds said about 108 children remain in difficult circumstances because suitable foster families or communities have not been found for them.
Additionally, the KCCA Executive Director warned individuals involved in recruiting and transporting children to Kampala for begging, hawking and other exploitative activities that the authority is stepping up efforts to identify and prosecute them.
She said investigations would also target people providing accommodation or other support to those involved in recruiting children. The children were sent to Napak with scholastic materials, including books, pens and pencils.
KCCA provided food, snacks and drinks for their journey. Parents and caregivers were urged to receive the children with love and patience and help them remain in school rather than return to the streets. According to observation 95 percent of the rescued children are girls and the operation of rescuing street children from Kampala roads is still on going-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
