|
Mongu Father Abandons Children
By Perpetual Sichikwenkwe In Mongu
FIVE children have been abandoned by their father and are now living in a
night club.
The children have now appealed to the Legal Resources Foundation (LRF) to
help them trace their father or force his employers to start giving them
part of his salary.
The children complained that their father, who is an employee of the
Judiciary, abandoned them in January this year when he left to attend a
funeral of a relative in Kabwe.
The children are now staying at former Mongu Night Club after the principal
resident magistrate assisted them to occupy the premises after they were
evicted by their father's landlord in June.
The children, who asked not to be named, are being headed by a 20 year old
daughter.
The daughter said her father Boston Lukwesa left them on January 15 to
attend a funeral in Kabwe and since then he has not returned while their
stepmother who is a teacher in Lusaka left the following day leaving them
with only a K100,000 and school fees for two children who are in secondary
schools.
She said when schools were closed in April 2006, their stepmother returned
and stayed with them for two weeks before going back. The stepmother only
took the maid with her and did not leave any money for the children.
The girl said in June they were evicted from the house after accruing K3.6
million that was not paid for six months.
The children went at the judiciary (their father's work place) and spent two
nights in the cold.
The magistrate solicited a place for them at a Mongu Night Club which is not
operation at the moment, the place there are occupying up to now.
She said people at the judiciary made a donation of K20,000 to enable them
buy food for few days and later their church, Bread of Life, has been giving
them money and food.
The girl also said that a Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation employee
has also been assisting them.
Another daughter, who is in Grade 11 at Nsefula Boarding School, said she
has not attended school the whole of second term because she has no money
for school fees.
“When my stepmother came here in April, I asked if she could give me some
money for school fees but she told me that the K240, 000 that was needed was
too much and she could not afford” she said.
Asked whether there were no relatives from either their late mother or
father's side to assist them, one of the children said their father's sister
in Kabwe is aware of the problem but said she could not help them because
their father has made it a habit to abandon his own children.
“As an eldest child here, I wake up in the morning confused because I do
not know where our next meal will come from. Sometimes we go for days
without eating and it's not the first time that we are finding ourselves in
this situation. My father has a habit of abandoning us because even before
my mother died in 2003, he used to leave us but that was a different story
because our mother was able to fend for us” she explained.
The eldest daughter, who completed her Grade 12 last year, urged LRF to
follow up the matter with the Judiciary to see if part of their father's
salary could be given to them so that they can be meeting some of their
daily needs. Efforts by the reporter to get a comment from the father failed
as Lukwesa’s mobile number she was given by his children was just ringing.
LRF Mongu Paralegal Sianga Mulunga said the Foundation would follow up the
matter with the Judiciary to see how best the children can be assisted.
In the meantime, the abandoned children have been advised to lay a complaint
with the police for neglect or failure to provide necessities by a parent.
|
