CES Advisor for Gender, Child, and Social Welfare Mariam Agoli|Photo|Courtesy

Central Equatoria State advisor for Gender, Child, and Social Welfare has issued a stern warning to men seducing underage girls , saying the government will apply Uganda’s mode of punishment where perpetrators are given hoes to dig until the tools wear out.

Mariam Agoli made the remarks on Sunday at a catholic church in Rokon town where Stephen Cardinal Ameyu led the celebrations of the feast of St. Peter the Apostle

Agoli had represented Central Equatoria state governor Augustino Jadallah Wani at the occasion.

She cautioned men against impregnation underage girls, saying the government will apply Uganda’s way of punishing perpetrators where by defilement convicts are free until a hoe wears out.

” In Uganda, if you impregnate an underage girl, the government will give you a new hoe to cultivated till it it half and then they will release you. Anybody who is doing that [impregnates an underage],  we are going to come here with hoes and do the same thing.

“You will cultivate until the hoe becomes half and then we will release you. Anyone who’s after these young girls, you have listened,” she added.

A  2020 report by the civil society organization found out that more than 1,500 teenage girls in South Sudan were either  married off or impregnated in three Equatoria states of Eastern, Central, and Western respectively

The report released by the Support Peace Development Initiative Organization (SPIDO) found alarming rates of early child marriages, pregnancies, and prostitution in those states.

The report uncovered widespread incidents of sexual-related offenses, mostly rape, attempted rape, sexual harassment, and murder of children.

Western Equatoria leads in cases of teenage marriage and pregnancies, with 1,182 cases followed by Eastern Equatoria with 318 cases, and Central Equatoria with 35 cases respectively.

The report calls for urgent measures to prevent and mitigate child abuse. It also called for the provision of medical care for child abuse survivors and increased advocacy for human rights.

The report further recommends the establishment of a juvenile justice legal aid scheme in the East African country.