KITWE COUNCIL TO ACT ON MARAUDING STREET KIDS

THEKitwe City Council will liaise with an investor at the former Astra Cinema in the City centre to fence off the facility to prevent street kids from using it for other mischievous activities, Town Clerk Mbulo Seke has said.

He said the local authority would discuss with the owner of the property to completely fence it off in order to curb the nuisance which had been happening there.

There had been concerns from some mobile booth operators about the filthy state of the property as street children and other people had turned it into a sex den and also use it for other mischievous activities.

Some mobile booth operators said that the street children were sometimes having sex during day at the same place.

When contacted for a comment, Mr Seke said the former Astra Cinema was a private property, but that the local authority would liaise with the owner so that it could be fenced off and guarded.

“It is regrettable that the former Astra has been turned into a toilet by street children and this was making the job of mobile money booth operators difficult because of the smell of urine and faecal matter

“That place is a private property and what we will do as a local authority is to liaise with the owner of the property find ways of abetting the nuisance. We will discuss the possibility of completely fencing off the area so that there is no way in for street children,” Mr Seke said.

But some residents said the problem of street children had become a very complicated issue which needed to be addressed immediately.

Mr Stephen Chanda said there were some complex issues in addressing the problem of street children especially that the children were not eager to be empowered in any way, but were happy with being given alms.

“These children have become so much used to begging and even if Government comes up with initiatives to empower them, things don’t work because they want to go back to beg in the streets, Mr Chanda said.