Africa-Press – Zambia. The new dawn administration has been urged to address the issue of street living and working in order to bring sanity to the country’s major towns and cities.
Golden Party of Zambia leader Jackson Silavwe says the issue of street living is an eye sore to the nation adding that some are even taking it a business.
“Recently, we stumbled on a story were a woman has been seen dropping off her elderly suspected mother or relative on the streets of Lusaka and picking her up with a car after a days ‘work’ of begging.
“One can surmise that we now have another undercurrent pushing ‘streetism’ and that of being a business. We are not far off from hitting crisis point regarding this matter and it cannot be left to NGO’s and CSO’s alone. It now needs clear solid National policy.”
He writes: The issues of street kids and street adults is becoming worse by the day and as a Nation we cannot be silent about it any more. Over the years we have seen street boys and girls turn into adults and now having their own ‘street’ children. A ‘street’ community is now rising and taking root in our Country.
We do acknowledge that various negative life forces get to push a child or an adult to the streets such as poverty, death of parents or guardians, mistreatment, drug abuse etc.
However, recently we stumbled on a story were a woman has been seen dropping off her elderly suspected mother or relative on the streets of Lusaka and picking her up with a car after a days ‘work’ of begging.
One can surmise that we now have another undercurrent pushing ‘streetism’ and that of being a business. We are not far off from hitting crisis point regarding this matter and it cannot be left to NGO’s and CSO’s alone. It now needs clear solid National policy.
We call on President Hichilema and his Government to come up with strengthened and solid national intervention measures beyond the ZNS initiative to curb the growing number of kids and adults on our streets. Indeed the consciousness of any society is determined by how it treats it’s most vulnerable members.
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