Criminals using children to rob shops – DC

By ROGERS KALERO
CRIMINALS are using children from vulnerable families living on the streets to rob shops and break into other people’s vehicles, Kitwe District Commissioner (DC) Lawrence Mwanza has said.
Mr Mwansa warned that after being used as information tools by criminals that children would in future become hard core criminals who would be difficult to control.
Mr Mwanza was speaking yesterday when more than 25 visually impaired families among them street kids were yesterday repatriated to their various homes in Luanshya and Ndola.
“The exercise conducted today, would not only bring sanity in the district, but also provide a safe environment for the families and children as you know, the street is a very dangerous place for a child to grow from.
“We noted that the families living on the streets especially children were being used as information tools by criminals to rob shops and break into other people’s vehicles,” Mr Mwanza said
Mr Mwanza in the company of Mayor Mpasa Mwaya, provided buses and assorted food stuffs sourced from well-wishers for the families who sought shelter along some shops in Kitwe’s second class trading area.
The DC said the local leadership would now engage council and state police to ensure that no child or parent was found on the streets after their re-union with families.
Mr Mwanza said measures would be put in place to enroll the children in schools and ensure they received adequate meals for them not to opt back to the streets.
And Kitwe Mayor, Mpasa Mwaya, called on the business community to engage her office and that of the District Commissioner (DC) to supplement government efforts in providing necessities for the families as opposed to giving them hand-outs.
“Hand-outs are not sustainable but that a lasting solution should be derived to help benefit the affected families. The office of the DC and the local authority are working hard to find a lasting solution to the problem ,” Ms Mwaya said.
Last week Mr Mwanza in the company of Ms Mwaya and Luanshya Mayor Charles Mulenga engaged the street kids and the adults on the plans to take them back to their respective towns as the streets were posing a threat to their health and lives due to lack of proper sanitary conditions.