BY DAVID MAFABI
MBALE
The Luga-Flow rapper Gerson Wabuyu alias Gravity Omutujju has apologised for his “irresponsible remarks” supporting the violence against women.
While appearing on a TV interview on 11 August, Omutujju said he enjoys beating women and seeing them wail in pain.
He said that he would beat a woman even more than fellow singer Douglas Mayanja alias Weasel did to his girlfriend recently.
But following the bad comments of Omutujju, a section of Ugandans ganged up on him, seeking an apology and calling upon different corporate companies to withdraw funding and support from his upcoming concerts.
The “Tusimbude” singer reappeared in an interview seeking forgiveness for his statements and apologised for the comments he made on 11 August.
“I am here to clear the air for my fans and Ugandans at large about a video that has been trending. It was chopped out of a longer video in which I was joking. I love joking but maybe I cracked jokes on a very sensitive issue this time around,” Omutujju said.
He explained that as Gravity Omutujju, he has never beaten any woman, “I have never beaten my wife or any female creature. If there is any woman that claims I have ever beaten her, let her come out and pin me to it. I do not condone the act and so I apologize to whoever was hurt by my statements,” he added.
Mr. Stephen Weyusya, the executive director of African Rural Development Initiatives, an NGO that looks after child mothers and young women who have run away from Domestic violence described Omutujju’s comments as comments of a traditional African man who thinks that women must be beaten.
Mr. Weyusya, also a retired senior community development officer [Manafwa district] said there are very many Omutujju’s in our society and that as sensible Ugandans we ought to get rid of them to give women the rights they deserve.
He said in order to support women living with violence there is a need to strengthen formal and informal support systems for women living with violence.
“While formal services offered by health or justice-related institutions should be expanded or improved, the existing sources of informal support to which most women belong should be explored. They could include sensitizing religious leaders and other respected local leaders to the problem,” he said.
The singer Omutujju’s apology comes at a time when violence against women has remained unabated despite laws and policies in place.
A report on the national survey of violence in Uganda by the Uganda National Bureau of Statistics 2021 says that the lifetime prevalence of intimate partner physical violence among ever-partnered women was 45%, the highest being in the Acholi Sub-region (78%) and the least was in
Busoga with 22%.
The report adds that the prevalence of recent physical violence was 22% i.e. in the last 12 months, about 16% of the ever-partnered women reported severe physical violence. Ends
