Underage drinking rocks Kalingalinga

UNDERAGE drinking in Kalingalinga compound has reached alarming levels and residents say they want the scourge urgently stopped.

A resident Joyce Banda said the levels of underage drinking and patronising of bars in the area was alarming.

She said there was need for stringent measures to be put in place to curb this vice before it got out of hand.

And Kalingalinga ward 31 councillor Kasongo Chomba said as a parent, he was also concerned with the levels of underage drinking in the area.

He said with the coming of the festive season he feared that the problem would worsen.

“I have had meetings with Kalingalinga Police in charge to help find out how best we can sort out the situation of underage drinking especially during this festive season. But we are yet to talk to bar owners to make sure that no underage persons are allowed into any drinking place”. Mr. Chomba said. He warned that bar owners and underage patrons found wanting would be prosecuted in accordance with the law. “We are also appalling to the parents to realise that council police and other stakeholders cannot handle this problem alone there is need for parents to step up and control their children during this festive season to avoid,” problems he said.

He further called upon the church to come on board in talking to the youth on the dangers of over celebrating and engaging in illicit activities.

Meanwhile, Lusaka City Council acting public relations manager George Sichamba said the local authority would intensify patrols to monitor and control the situation.

“Last week we carried out patrols and operations in Emmesdale and Garden compounds where we apprehended 74 underage patrons and 6 bar owners who are likely to appear before the courts and our officers have already done a report on the issue.

“We hope this will serve as a deterrent to others. Our plea is that bar owners should be screening patrons as they enter and were need be they should be asked for their national identity cards to prove the age,” Mr. Sichamba said.