POSITIVE disposition towards children is one of the yardsticks by which a morally upright adult can - actually should be measured. The starting point to that end is the all-too-familiar characterisation of children being God's little angels.
In an ideal setting, all adults should treat children compassionately. But that setting is elusive; Tanzania hosts grownups who abuse children. Given their angelic nature, children are reciprocal, manifested by gestures like smiling at compassionate adults.
Well bred slightly older children dutifully greet adults across whom they come, vacate seats for them in buses, and such-like. It boggles the mind acutely, therefore, that some adults, who outwardly seem to be normal, treat children cruelly, often without a trace of remorse.
Last week was one of the saddest for morally upright Tanzanians, in the wake of the death of Spelius Eradius, a 13-year-old pupil at Kibeta Primary School, in Kagera Region's Bukoba Municipality.
The young life was terminated in horrific circumstances; at the climax of caning by a teacher over suspicions that she had stolen a colleague's handbag containing some money.
It subsequently emerged that it wasn't the case; and even if it had been, the punishment would have been in sharp contrast to the presumed offence. Particularly disturbing, however is the fact that the teacher is a woman who would be expected to manifest motherly tenderness.
Onto that fact may be factored the sentiments of the Deputy Minister of State in the President's Office responsible for Regional Administration and Local Government, Mr Joseph Kandege.
They featured at the burial of Spelius at Kitoko Village in Kagera Region's Muleba District at the weekend. Mr Kandege, who represented President John Magufuli at the somber event, said government would deal sternly with perpetrators of violence against children.
Rape and sodomy against children are also bothersome, with the Executive Director of the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC), Ms Anna Henga saying an average of 394 children were reportedly raped across the country each month from January to June, 2018.
She said out of 6,376 incidents of violence against children, 2,365 cases involved rape while 533 involved sodomy, adding that sodomy incidents increased from 12 in the first half of 2017 to 533 in the first half of 2018.
The bottom line is that more steam should be unleashed in the war against violence against children.
