HIGH COST OF LIVING HAS TRIGGERED CRIME, DIVORCE AND PROSTITUTION
Dear Editor, THE high cost of living in the country has triggered high incidents of crime, divorce and prostitution. The poor state of the national economy under the new dawn administration has seen a sharp increase in the price of goods and services.
Most families are barely surviving due to the ever increasing prices of the commodities. Many people are surviving on less than one US$1.00) per day. This should not be the case under normal circumstances.
The high cost of living in the country has made it difficult for most husbands to provide for their families. You would find that the disposable income of most workers is too low to meet their financial obligations.
The couple will most of the time be at loggerheads. The altercation between couples can culminate in gender based violence (GBV) mostly physical and verbal.
If the gender based violence is not resolved, the couple will part ways through divorce.
Crime especially among the youth has become rampant. This does not mean that old people are not involved in criminal activities.
The group of criminals commonly known as junkies have been on the loose terrorising people. The criminals can steal anything to eke out a living to survive.
Just recently and last Saturday to be precise, some looters attempted to steal fuel from a fuel tanker on Lusaka’s Mungwi Road and got burnt.
The high cost of living has also contributed to the high rate of prostitution. Some young women and the old alike have turned to prostitution as a means of survival. The worst scenario is where girls as young as 13 years old engage in prostitution to make money through selling sex. This is sad.
Prostitution can defeat the purpose of scaling down HIV/ AIDS and the sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) by 2030. This is because some prostitutes engage in unprotected sex.
The United Party for National Development when in opposition campaigned on the premise of lowering the cost of living. Unfortunately, the UPND campaign promise to lower the cost of living has hit a snag because it has not been actualised.