This Parliament should constitutionalise it. We guard our elders today because we are elders tomorrow.
I’ve buried two elders very close to me.
Ssenga Julian Birabwa Muzaaya. She raised children, paid school fees, and sent many to university. When she fell ill, her daughters nursed her. The men? Mostly absent. Apart from me and Cliff Richard Masagazi, the rest only showed up for the burial.
Mzee Lugwire John Nathaniel. His daughters bathed him, turned him in bed, and took him to the toilet. In our customs, that’s a taboo—a daughter seeing her father’s nakedness. Meanwhile, Charles Lugwire was “enjoying the wind in Zambia.”
This is the story of Uganda today: we abandon our elders when they need us most, and then we show up in suits and tears for the burial. We wait for people to die, then we lie about how much we loved them.
It has to stop.
The Law We Must Adopt
Uganda needs one clear standard: caring for your parents is a legal duty, not a favor.
We can draw from China’s approach and make it stronger for our context:
From China’s Elderly Rights Law, Article 18:
Family members who live separately from the elderly shall visit them often.
Where the elderly live alone, family members shall attend to their spiritual needs.
Employers shall guarantee leave for employees to visit their elderly parents.
From China’s Civil Code, Book V:
Article 1042: No maltreatment of, or discrimination against, older persons is allowed. The lawful rights and interests of the elderly are protected.
Article 1067: Adult children have the duty to maintain their parents.
China made this law in 2013. The message is simple: neglect is not just bad manners. It’s a legal wrong. Parents can sue. Employers must release workers to visit. Society shames you. You can’t hide behind “I’m busy.”
Uganda can take this model and add teeth.
What We Do in Uganda Is Worse
We constitutionalize tribes and fight over names, but we have no law that forces children to care for parents while they’re alive.
Our custom says it’s a taboo for daughters to handle their father’s body, yet we don’t organize systems where sons step up. So the daughters break, the fathers suffer, and the sons show up late.
We pour 5 million into caskets we can’t afford, but we won’t send 50,000 shillings for medicine when they’re alive. We give speeches at the graveside, but we didn’t make one call in six months.
That’s not love. That’s theater.
What Parliament Must Do – The Ugandan Filial Responsibility Law
1. Make care a legal duty.
Amend the Children Act and Succession Act to state: Adult children have a legal duty to provide material and emotional support to parents aged 60+. “Frequent visits” and minimum financial support shall be defined by district ordinances.
2. Add real penalties.
Make willful neglect a misdemeanor. Tie it to public service eligibility, land transactions, and succession rights. If you abandon your parent, you lose standing to inherit.
3. Mandate employer responsibility.
Require employers to grant paid leave for employees to visit sick or elderly parents. “I couldn’t get off work” will no longer be an excuse.
4. Empower community enforcement.
Give LCs, clan councils, and women’s groups the mandate to mediate, report, and publicly call out neglect. Shame works. Social pressure works. Let the clan hold you accountable before the burial, not after.
The Question for Every Ugandan
Why do we only remember our parents when they’re dead?
Why do daughters become nurses by default while sons claim, “that’s not my role”?
Why do we spend millions on funerals but zero on caregivers?
Ssenga Julian and Mzee Lugwire deserved better. They deserved to be turned, fed, and spoken to while they could hear it. Not flowers on a grave.
If other nations can legislate responsibility, Uganda can do it better. If we don’t, we’ll keep burying elders alone and lying at their funerals.
Love them while they live. Visit them while they breathe. Pay them while they need it.
Anything else is noise.
Honourable Members of Parliament: Pass the Filial Responsibility Law. Let Uganda guard its elders before it’s too late. Rt Hon Speaker and Mrs Jackie Mbabazi, don’t enter Heaven if you don’t pass this bill, because the hills of Mulanda, Kisoko, Rukungiri, and Kanungu will walk to Kampala.
