By KT Reporter
The safety of children belonging to mothers who operate in Gulu Main Market remains at risk after Gulu City Council rented out the market’s day care center. The room, originally designed to care for about 50 children under the supervision of a caretaker while their mothers conducted business, has been leased to the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB).
The absence of this facility has negatively impacted parents, particularly those with toddlers who cannot remain at home. A market vendor, who identified herself as Akidi, said the number of children becomes overwhelming in the evenings and during school holidays, distracting mothers from their work as they must constantly ensure their children are safe.
“Most of us have young children with whom we come to the market because we do not have where to leave them while we come to work, especially during holidays or evening hours when they are back from school,” Akidi explained. Scovia Alaroker, a seamstress and mother to a toddler, said some mothers have resorted to tying their children to sewing machines so they can move short distances while keeping an eye on them.
“We tie the children with ropes to the sewing machines so that when they move, they do not get lost out of sight,” she said. Alaroker added that if the day care center were operational, children could develop better social and communication skills under the care of trained staff, and parents could focus on their work.
Patrick Omaya, Chairperson of the Gulu Main Market Vendors Association, said market leaders have repeatedly advocated for the facility to be returned to its original purpose but have been unsuccessful. He noted that nearly every week, a mother reports a missing child.
“Unfortunately, the day care center had long been degazetted for other purposes. The Gulu Municipal Council, before the city was established, allocated it to URSB to be their office. That’s why children are scattered all over the market, with nowhere to be kept,” Omaya explained.
Geoffrey Otim, Mayor of Laroo Pece Division, acknowledged that the day care center has been non-operational for all the years the market has been in existence. He said that in the next phase of work at the market, the council plans to revamp the day care center.
“In the next phase, we are going to ensure that those facilities start functioning, especially the day care center. We have to make sure that somebody operates it, so that the children within the market are not loitering around. They are actually kept and trained by specialists within the market,” Otim said.
In addition to the day care center, the children’s playground—which was once equipped with swings and other play equipment—no longer serves its purpose, as some vendors now conduct business from the same space.
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