Riot ensues at Ng’ombe school as NRC issuance is suspended

CLASSES at Ng’ombe Primary School in Lusaka were yesterday disturbed following a riot which erupted when the insurance of National Registration Cards (NRCs) ended prematurely.

The NRC issuance ended without prior notification of the public who alleged that they had been duped after paying bribes of between K200 and K500 to obtain the cards to unknown people.

The fracas resulted into property damage including a vehicle for the school

Head Teacher who, together with other teachers, were reportedly injured.

A check by the Daily Nation team yesterday around 12:00 hours found that the gates for the school were closed with pupils roaming around the area in their uniforms.

One of the parents interviewed, Juliet Mwamba who is a Ng’ombe resident, narrated that she found people rioting at the office around 05:00 hours when she took her son for NRC registration.

“I took my son to register for an NRC and we found people in charge had already left the place, we were told that they will be there for a month.

They were supposed to leave on Friday [today] and not today [yesterday].

“We found a problem there where some people broke property including a vehicle for the School Head Master so that is how my son and I went back home. That was around 05:00 hours,” Ms Mwamba said

She said some people who had paid to obtain NRCs were told that they would collect their cards yesterday.

“Some people were charging people to obtain NRCs, some people were paying K200 and K500.

That is how people who paid got upset and started rioting. I am very annoyed, I woke up around 05:00 hrs in the morning only to be disappointed,” she said.

Another resident, Michael Nkandu, urged Government to find other places where the issuances of NRCs would be conducted from to avoid disturbing pupils.

Mr Nkandu said: “Government should find other places to issue NRCs from because pupils are being disturbed.

They should find some other places because our children will continue staying home, stop learning and forget about school.