When Nakagwa speaks about the darkest chapter of her life, her voice trembles—but her resolve stays firm. “I still cannot believe a father could do that to his own child,” she says quietly, wiping tears as she recalls how her 10-year-old daughter suffered sexual abuse at the hands of her biological father, Paul Sserunjogi. Her testimony, shared at a community meeting in Kijabijo, Wakiso District, on November 28, has become a powerful voice during the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence—a global campaign demanding protection for women and girls.
Before Uganda’s 2020 lockdown, Sserunjogi—then living in Kampala—began abusing his daughter. According to Nakagwa, he routinely intoxicated the entire family, including his wife and children, to render them unconscious. On the first night the girl noticed him, she asked what he was doing between her legs. He lied and said he had come to cover her. The family slept in two cramped rooms, so the children slept in the sitting area—making it easier for him to sneak in at night. He gave flimsy excuses, like checking on them or looking for shoes. He even placed saucers on the floor to alert him if his wife stirred.
Yet the signs grew impossible to ignore. The girl began waking up tired, her underwear missing. Three months later, she started passing smelly pus from her private parts. Alarmed, Nakagwa rushed her to the hospital. Doctors delivered a devastating diagnosis: a mature man had repeatedly defiled the child. Her private parts and uterus were ruptured. When asked who hurt her, the girl whispered, “Daddy.”
Doctors urged Nakagwa to report the abuse to police. But fear held her back—fear of her in-laws, the collapse of her marriage, and community shame. Still, medical staff and a village defence officer—who felt too afraid to act alone—encouraged her to seek help from a Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) officer nearby. He arrested Sserunjogi immediately and handed him over to Namugoona Police Station, later transferring him to Old Kampala.
Medical exams confirmed the abuse on both father and daughter. Authorities charged Sserunjogi with aggravated defilement at Buganda Road Chief Magistrates Court and jailed him at Luzira Prison. Yet justice stalled. For five years, the court did not hear the case. Then, a female village leader approached Nakagwa with release papers and pressured her to sign. Without a trial, Sserunjogi walked free.
Refusing to let her daughter’s pain disappear, Nakagwa contacted the Centre for Health, Human Rights and Development (CEHURD) in Gayaza. With their help, authorities tracked Sserunjogi in Wobulenzi—where he had reportedly threatened to burn down the family home—and re-arrested him. This time, the court moved quickly. It convicted him of aggravated defilement and sentenced him to 30 years in prison. The girl had hoped for life imprisonment. In court, Sserunjogi claimed his wife had “stopped giving birth.” Nakagwa countered: “I couldn’t keep having children with a man who never provided—even for my last delivery, he paid nothing. He stole the little money I saved.”
Years later, the trauma endures. “Smelly pus still comes out. She has constant abdominal pain. She’s withdrawn and rarely speaks,” Nakagwa says. The community mocks them. “People laugh at my daughter. Some cruelly ask her to prove her father really slept with her,” she adds, her voice breaking. The two-room house where the abuse happened still haunts them. She dreams of moving—but cannot afford it.
Ms. Noor Nakibuka Musisi, deputy executive director of CEHURD, calls the scale of home-based violence “alarming.” “Most cases in our legal aid clinic involve GBV,” she says. “When we share stories in community dialogues, families learn to spot the signs and speak out.” CEHURD also worked with police to protect Nakagwa after they learned Sserunjogi threatened arson.
Nationally, Uganda reports progress. The Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development says physical violence dropped from 56% in 2016 to 44% in 2022. Sexual violence fell from 26% to 17%. More than 46,000 survivors have accessed support through 21 GBV shelters. Yet authorities recorded over 14,000 sex-related offences in 2024 alone, showing the crisis continues.
The 16 Days of Activism—running from November 25 to December 10—aims to unite communities against gender-based violence in Uganda and beyond. Stories like Nakagwa’s show both deep suffering and extraordinary resilience. “Justice came,” she says, “but healing is a long road. I want my daughter to have peace. I pray one day we can leave that house of bad memories and start again.”
Ugandan law treats gender-based violence in Uganda seriously. Section 116 of the Penal Code Act defines defilement of a child under 18 as a felony punishable by life imprisonment. Aggravated defilement—such as when the offender is a parent—can carry the death penalty. Yet inconsistent enforcement forces many survivors like Nakagwa to fight for years just to receive justice.
