SHAME IN MKUSHI

THE shameful sexual incident in which four teachers have been suspended for reportedly having a “sex party” with school girls believed to be minors in Mkushi is greatly disturbing.

As part of the immoral escapade, the teachers are reported to have taken the female pupils to Chalata, a small outpost in Mkushi, for a drinking spree and sex party called “feast.”

Five female pupils from a local boarding school in total were involved in the sexual acts with the four teachers.

But thanks to a former girlfriend of one of the teachers who initially exposed the incident by posting on social media, otherwise, this despicable episode would have escaped the eyes of the public.

It is unconceivable to imagine that teachers, who are supposedly highly respected in society and whom children look up to could stoop so low as to engage in illicit sexual acts with their own pupils, and minors for that matter!

Even more distressing is the fact that teachers who assume the role of mentors as well as guardians of the pupils while at school were in the forefront inculcating immoral values in the children.

Since pupils tend to believe and listen to their teachers even more than their parents in some cases, what will become of these girls who have already been made to believe that engaging in sex before marriage is the right way to behave?

Just how long these sordid sexual activities have been going on with teachers is another worrisome question.

Understandably, as punishment the teachers were suspended and later transferred to other schools. Strange indeed because the rules are very clear in as far as what punishment is supposed to be meted on teachers found caught committing such an offence.

These teachers should not in anyway be left in the system. They should have been dismissed from the service and prosecuted.

Whatever mitigation factors were taken into consideration to warrant such light punishment is mindboggling.

But the bottom line is that the five girls will probably never be the same again as their minds have been corrupted or polluted by the immoral activities.

They may need serious counselling to realign their minds and bring them back to normalcy for them to continue with their education with a free mind.

But the Mkushi incident boils down to one thing – the alarming moral decadence that is chocking the nation at supersonic speed – which if left unchecked will result in a serious immorality explosion.

Just two months ago, 70 pupils were arrested at a Woodlands home in Lusaka by police after they were caught red-handed engaging in a so-called sex party. They were released and the issue has since died a natural death as police have remained mute on the matter.

Two weeks ago, a secret meeting for gays and lesbians was held at a plush hotel in Livingstone against the laws of this land which in no uncertain terms abhor homosexuality. Unfortunately, once again, police are tight-lipped on the matter.

Aside, the alarming proportions of alcohol consumption, abusive language, crime and other bad vices among the populace, especially the youth, sexual immorality has skyrocked at jet speed and urgently needs serious intervention.

These are not just wild claims and to attest to our observations, both the electronic and print media is full of stories bordering on sexual immorality ranging from incest to infidelity, which in a number of instances have resulted in marital deaths.

Given this depressing state of affairs, there is no doubt that the Ministry of Religious Affairs in collaboration with the Church has a mammoth task to help restore morality in this Christian nation.

We can only hope they have mooted a well-thought out strategy on how they will tackle these huge and serious concerns to bring about change.

However, one thing is clear, this task should not be left to the ministry and Church alone but everybody should be involved at all levels or the nation risks facing more immoral shockers such as

the Mkushi incident