Friday, March 29, 2024

Blind foreign nationals throng Lusaka streets

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The Zambia Agency for Persons with Disability (ZAPD) has observed an increase in the number of foreign blind people on the streets in Lusaka and on the Copperbelt province who are begging for money.

ZAPD Acting Director General, Charles Mwape, said some of the blind people are suspected to be from Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Dr. Mwape told ZANIS in an interview in Lusaka today that this has affected the reintegration programme which the agency, working with government under the auspices of the ministry of Community Development and Social Services, has embarked on.

He said government and the agency have found it difficult to clear the blind persons from the streets because of the new people that have since thronged the streets.

Dr. Mwape has since appealed to the Department of Immigration to help scrutinize travel documents of the suspected foreigners on the streets.

He said the department of immigration should move in if the programme of integrating the blind is to succeed.

Meanwhile, the Zambia Agency for Persons with Disability (ZAPD) has extended the period of registration for its affiliates.

Dr. Mwape has disclosed that the agency has extended the registration period to May 27, 2009.

He said the extension follows an appeal by stakeholders to have the date extended after ZAPD ran out of application forms for the registration.

He has however maintained that no organization whether local or foreign, that will not register with ZAPD would be allowed to operate and offer services to disabled people once the extension period elapses.

Dr. Mwape said there is therefore need for all organizations dealing with disabled people to register with his agency so that the agency can start monitoring their activities and help better the lives of the disabled people.

Act 33 of 1999 of the Laws of Zambia provides that every organization providing services to the disabled should be registered with ZAPD.

ZANIS

25 COMMENTS

  1. Pompi you cant lol. Its sad for our freinds and the best we can do is see how we can organise something for these people. they too should survive, and they are doing it the best way they know and withinn their means. you just cant turn a blind eye to a crisis. were are the ngos and churches? rb too should do something about his relatives.

  2. I need my glasses I nearly read the title as blind foreigne nationals thong lusaka streets. let the blind foreigners be they are not committing crimes against the population. Just because a blind person comes from the other side of the imaginary imperial line of the border , that doesn’t preclude them from begging

  3. Being blind doesn’t make anyone less human, or make them have less rights. so i don’t see anything wrong with the blind people on the streets. So if I, whose got his eye sight is allowed to be on the street why shouldn’t they? We are equal under the sun. And i don’t find anything funny about a person being blind like some bloggers do. Maybe i didn’t just understand this article.

  4. If they do not have valid documents they have to be deported, its the law.
    ‘Tulelombako ubwafwilisho!’ Check the accent? If suspicious report to Immigration officers.

  5. If our blind are allowed to be on the streets, let these foreign blind people be allowed. They need to survive too. they’re human & equally special.

  6. #8 ARE U SURE U MEAN WHAT YOU WROTE?? WHAT ARE U DOING IN THE USA. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG FOR KABILA AND MUGABE’S PIPO TO CROSS THE BORDERS AND LIVE WHERE THEY FEEL THEY ARE SAFE. PERHAPS WE SHOULD TELL OBAMA TO ISSUE AN ULTIMATUM FOR YOU TO LEAVE THE US, HOW ABOUT THAT? BE CONSIDERATE MWANA BCOZ LIFE IS TRICKY.

  7. The idea of having many people on th streets just begging is really bad. There are many blind and street kids out there on the streets and these people contribute very much to the dirty in the streets. It important that the Govt, NGOs and the Churches to quickly find a way to combat this problem. Its really not good to have so much people loitering in the streets.

  8. I am sure there are also organizations that bring the blind from foreign countries in bulks. There is a criminal act in connection to this. ZAPD stay strong and keep moving. I wonder what happens to a blind person with no traveling documents !!

  9. I once asked a Zimbabwean friend of mine “why there are so many blind people in Zimbabwe?”, Funny he hasn’t noticed that himself. The are plenty in S.A too and the majority (if not all) are Zimbabwean.

  10. LT please march with the times. Try to avoid terms like “blind” and “disabled”. Rather use “Visually impaired” and “persons with disabilities”.

    It is not a big deal if these people are in the country legally.

  11. #19 KA’DOYO, Ni pa Zed pano mudala. Anything goes. Some of them are not legit. You give a ‘blind person’ five pin, akuyankha ati, ‘Ndimwe ba kaso!’.

  12. #20 Ba Moze ha ha ha……. you have made my day after having a bad start to my day. Great weekend to you!

  13. # 17, maybe I am intellectually challenged, but I see nothing wrong with being specific, and I think political correctness creates ambiguity sometimes. Visually impaired can also mean short-sighted.. oops.. I can’t say short (Chiliuba will be offended)… vertically challenged… How about that? Vertical challenge-sighted persons… Soon “immigrant” will be an insult… It will have to be something like “new resident” or “new citizens”… That debate is on in Finland…

  14. Oh c’mon LT, some form of censorship and less demonising should be practiced. These are people too.

  15. its great tat u have alot to say without remorse..imagine u born blind and all u want to do is live, eat and be at least normal…unfortunately ur own gvt cant even cushion ur disability u forced to seek greener pastures.. u travel 1000s of km w children all u want is to live, eat and be normal…and u have e nerve to call tat crazy? did u thank God u can type and surf e net?? umh??

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