Village leaders in Jinja District have mediated a peaceful separation between two men who were sharing a woman and a one-bedroom house in Kagoma-Makota village, Kagoma Town Council, after an arrangement that left the entire community talking.
At the centre of it all is 46-year-old Judith Babirye, who had moved on with Steven Orwenyi after believing her former lover, Isaac Omoding, had died. Ten months later, Omoding walked back into the village alive and moved straight back into Babirye’s house. Rather than choose between the two men, Babirye called them both together and proposed they all live under the same roof.
The arrangement did not last. Orwenyi grew increasingly uncomfortable sharing the home with another man, and the situation worsened after Babirye accused him of stealing household items and insulting her in public. She eventually reported the matter to local leaders and asked him to leave.
“When Omoding returned after a long time, there was no way I could deny him access to the house. I briefed Orwenyi about the new arrangement,” Babirye told the community meeting convened to resolve the dispute.
Orwenyi, however, did not leave quietly. He told the meeting that he deserved compensation for the support he had given Babirye during their relationship, saying he had handed over his entire monthly salary of 150,000 shillings from his job as a security guard at the weighbridge and had also constructed a pit latrine for her.
“Out of respect for her, Babirye should give me at least 130,000 shillings to cater for compensation and my transport back to Ngora District,” he said, adding that Babirye had only turned to leaders to push him out after he lost his job.
Babirye told the meeting she did not have the money. Residents then contributed 32,500 shillings on the spot, while Babirye pledged to clear the remaining 100,000 shillings within two months.
Before village leaders escorted him to the bus park, Orwenyi shook hands with Omoding and congratulated him. Omoding, in turn, thanked Orwenyi for choosing peace and promised to take good care of Babirye and her seven children.
LC1 chairperson George Batema said he was stunned when he first heard that one woman was living with two men in a single-roomed house, and called on residents to avoid multiple relationships, warning that such situations often end in violence.
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