IF MY CHILD GETS INJURED OR KNOCKED BECAUSE THEY PLAYED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD, SHOULD MY CHILD BE BLAMED FOR PLAYING IN THE ROAD?.

Nakimuli’s 5-year-old niece came to visit last week her favourite aunt. While Nakimuli was cooking lunch, she heard people screaming and ran out of the house to find her niece lying on the ground after being knocked by her neighbour Baji. Baji has refused to pay hospital bills or take care of any bills because the child was carelessly playing in the road. Nakimuli disagrees and wants to go as far as court to fight Baji. Does she have a case?

Yes, she does.

By law, if you put yourself in a position that you know is unsafe, without taking any precautions, then you and the person who created that situation are both to blame for what happened. You will be to blame for failing to protect yourself and the other person will be to blame for creating unsafe circumstances.

For instance, if you decide to pose for a photo while holding your neighbour’s violent and dangerous dog and it bites you, then your neighbour is being reckless or negligent in allowing that dog out in the public, but you have equally contributed to the situation by negligently allowing your hand to touch the tough violent dog.

This is the same when you are involved in an accident when you fall out through the windshield of a car because you refused to wear a seatbelt even if your car is knocked from behind. This is called contributory negligence in law.

📷: Hunting Happiness Project.

When there is a child involved. The situation is different. By law (decided court cases), a child cannot be said to blame for what happened to them unless they are of such an age as to be expected to take precautions for his or her own safety. A child below 10 years of age is not expected to take precautions for their own safety and cannot, therefore, be liable for contributory negligence. Therefore, Nakimuli’s niece may have been playing on the road, but as a 5-year-old child cannot be expected to take steps to look out for her safety.

Remember this is considered on a case by case basis because some children below the age of 10 years may be more intelligent and able to take precautions for their safety than others and therefore they may be held to be contributory negligent for accidents they are involved in.

#BarefootLaw

#osutayusuf

Comments

UGANDA ELECTORAL COMMISSION TO ELIMINATE NATIONAL IDENTIFICATION CARDS (IDs) FOR 2021 GENERAL ELECTIONS.

The elimination of using National IDs (Ndagamuntu) for the 2021 elections should not have come as a surprise. One would be very NAIVE to think that Bobi Wine has not prepared for this in his Business Plan under the RISK section. It is public knowledge that our EC is not independent. It is also public knowledge that Military Dictator Yoweri Museveni will never lose an election. What stunned us this morning is when we noticed that on social media, people were mocking Bobi with his "get your Ndagamuntu". We are on record for saying to all Our readers that the National ID is like Apartheid in South Africa. Students of History would know how those IDs were being used to arrest people, deny them jobs, deny them basic services. Consequently, Bobi was not wrong and will never be wrong on the Ndagamuntu. Except the ones attacking him and mocking him forget that in Uganda, now, no National ID (Ndagamuntu), no service. If you have not been denied registering your child i...

Parliament Urges Government to Provide Shs 4 Billion to Media Houses to Run Awareness Campaign on Tourism in Uganda.

Parliament also urged Gov’t to provide additional Shs4Bn to UTB to engage international and national media houses in production of positive media stories for improved destination image, following reports of drop in number of tourists from US, Europe and China visiting Uganda. "The National Development Plan targeted to cumulatively attract 281,760 International Tourist arrivals from US, Europe & China but only 67,252 arrivals were registered by the end of the first half of FY 2023/24. The U.S, Europe & China were key target source for leisure tourist who stay longer than business tourists. However, statistics show that international arrivals from the aforementioned areas have continue to drop. The UTB requires Shs4Bn to engage international & national media houses in production of positive tourism stories to improve destination perception in light of recent controversies that shade the destination in a bad light. However, this has remained unfunded,” said La...

UPDF has Rehabilitated Boreholes and Shallow Wells in Maracha District Ahead of 45th Tarehe Sita.

Story by Osuta Yusuf. Maracha District. 30-12-2025. 📸: The technical team fixing some of the boreholes. Photo by Osuta Yusuf, Our News Reporter. The Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) which is the legally constituted security organ to guard and protect the people, properties and sovereignty of Uganda, have rehabilitated a total of 9 Boreholes and shallow wells at the tune of 15m Shs in 7 Sub-counties out of the 19 Sub-counties in Maracha District through a service dubbed under the Theme of “QUICK IMPACT PROJECT” directly financed by the UPDF, ahead of preparation for the celebration of their next year's 2026 Tarehe Sita anniversary. 📸: Official launch of UPDF’s 45th Tarehe Sita celebration ahead of the due date 6-February-2026. Courtesy Photo. The UPDF Tarehe Sita is an annual public holiday and event that takes place on every 6th of February, the date when the then Uganda Patriotic Movement (UPM) party now turned as National Resistance Army / Movement (NRA / M) headed b...

Osuta Yusuf

Search This Blog