Gulu district Chairman Martin Ojara Mapenduzi has warned the youth in Northern Uganda to completely desist from engaging in illicit sex activities from the numerous Pubs and lodges that have cropped up in the region, particularly those that engage in employing sex workers (prostitutes). 

He urged the youth to concentrate on education in order to fill up the gaps left by the two decades of brutal war and be able to follow in the footsteps of leaned sons and daughters from the region who through education went on to become professors, diplomats and great civil servants. 

The chairman made the remarks while launching the Citizens Manifesto which has been translated into the Luo language by the Agency for Cooperation, Research and Development Office [ACORD}, at Layibi Central in Pece division, Gulu municipality last weekend. 

He added that if young people fail to work hard but indulged in drinking alcohol and paying for sex, they will amount to nothing and their worth will not benefit the region.

The chairman warned parents to take care of their children as most of the youths are becoming more sexually active, particularly girls who are easily persuaded into prostitution. 

“One evening as I came out of a super market near one of the pubs around here; I bumped into young girls who were saying that the rain which was looming was going to destabilizes  business for them, since the loaded men normally came out were not going to be out,” he said. 

However, Layibi Division Chairman Mr Alfred Oluba stressed that there still remains some internment camps in some communities since many people in theose areas are unable to return due to displacement from their land or for fear of the unknown.  He said that it was these youths that have actively engaged in prostitution, serious drinking and gambling which are also the main cause of insecurity in the municipality.