A Combined team of Police Officers and council officials in Nchelenge district over the weekend picked up 31 teenagers, among them a Grade six pupil at a named school, who were found patronizing bars and night clubs.
The officers picked up 20 girls and eleven boys from drinking places in Kashikishi and Nchelenge BOMA in a clean up operation which lasted from around 21:00 hours to about 03:00 hours.
Among those apprehended from Kashgets Night Club, Mushima Nights, Kafindondo Night Club and Kabwe Bar were teenage prostitutes and alcohol abusers aged between 10 and 17 years old.
A ZANIS reporter, who witnessed the incident, found the officers bundling the teenagers, some of whom were very drunk, into council and police vehicles, which later took them to Nchelenge Police Station where they have been detained.
Meanwhile, Nchelenge District Council Secretary, Mwilu Lukwesa, has warned owners of drinking places allowing underage youths to patronize their premises that they risk being shut down by the local authority.
Mr Lukwesa said the local authority has started compiling a list of drinking places patronized by youths and may not renew their licenses at the end of the year.
He said the local authority, in collaboration with the police, will prosecute all the owners of the bars and night clubs where the children were caught.
Mr Lukwesa called on parents and all stakeholders to ensure that they look after their children and ensure that they do not enter drinking places.
He lamented that Nchelenge has continued to record high incidences of HIV and AIDS infections, teenage pregnancies and early marriages because of vices such as beer drinking and prostitution among youths.
Mr Lukwesa said the operations are on going and will soon spread to villages around the district.
ZANIS
This is what Zambia has come to be. And we call it development.
Ya ya even a grade six pupil and a ten year old ! what deliquency
Bravo Nchelenge thats the way to go if we are to save IMITI IKULA which are supposed to be IMPANGA otherwise AKABA MALASHA.
where are the parents and guardians????? this breakdown of values will later pose as a problem to national security and development
There are no recreation facilities for these kids. All the council halls and other facilities were sold by chiluba and are now bars and houses. Even the play parks in the town ships/compounds are now residencial plots. This is a time borm for the government. Not even a fire engine can reach some houses boz all the open areas in former council resdentials have been given out by the corrupt council employees and their councellors.
Atleast me i started drinking in grade 7.It is consolation knowing that some start as early as grade 6
zoron is right, there are absolutely no recreational activities for kids, even schools of nowadays have no space for sports. i hope non of these girls picked up will be molested or abused by the male authorities
Mr Council secretary,Its time you stopped issuing threats but close these bars to serve as a deterrent.I for one like drinking but I started patronising bars when I was in grade ten and ofcourse stayed focussed with school.
What do you expect when you have ministers who encourage people to break laws? Even children will break the laws, but its very unfortunate. I have visited some of the popular night clubs in Lusaka and have been surprised that MPs mingle and even ac oust young girls in these places. Its a sick nation and our leaders have no morals, Ndanyema maningi!!!! because these small chaps learn the behaviour from us the elders.
#6…I think i know all the Zedians working and studing here in Norway-by what you have said-I KNOW YOU…your comment is so hopeless..very selfish…seeing that you got screwed by bad behaviour as a kid…dont you think its important that you protect kids, not to have a raw deal like you did???Seeing that you know how deadly such behaviour is for ‘children’….ZORON nailed it and we just have to go forth and help these kids by first CLOSING DOWN THOSE ESTABLISHEMENTS…
And these are supposed to be the leaders (intungulushi) of tomorrow? Lord have mercy on our country.
# 10 what gives the idea that am in norway,dont be misled by the flag coz i also cant help it.A close guess though
some pple do offer solutions , but are known to be opposing every thing , opposing even a very thing that feeds them.
Looking at your conclusion # 10 you seem to have problems of your own.Why are you people reluctant to call a spade a spade.Life must be looked at both angles my brother i.e both the bad and the good side.So if i had a bad upbringing am not ashamed to talk about it coz i went through it.So dont play moron games on this site by calling people names coz of your own insecurities.
I know that Kabwe bar, they are some very beautiful young girls there. You guys make as if non of you like young mangoes
I was there a 2 months ago,and what is being said is true,especially in Kashikishi where there is loose money from those who go there to buy fish,there it bad prositution is every where especially near or at the lake,Im told even A.I.DS IS ON THE INCREASE..
Is 18 years the legal drinking age? They talk about teenagers but that also includes 18 and 19 year olds. Somebody help me understand.
The problem is that when MMD came into power they didnt want to have anything to with KK , they thot there was nothing good he did for the nation but this is something he never allowed, underage in a drinking place and bars would open and close at a certain time. I miss him for his displine. Now we are going back to what he did.
Well to some extent I do agree that lack of recreational facilities has contributed to underage drinking, but I feel there’s more to it. It’s how these young ones are being brought up. In some families you find that both parents are drunkards and they don’t have time to see what their children are up to. In the end the kids end like their parents i.e. drunkards.
continuation to #19.
Sometimes these kids need to be told about the dangers of alcohol abuse. Myself I am 25 and I don’t drink. It is a resolution I made whilst I was under 10. I don’t mean to say that drinking is bad. Over the years I have faced pressures to engage in beer drinking and I have stuck to my resolution. So young ones of today need to be encouraged to make similar resolutions. So it is not always about lack of recreational facilities. I grew up in an area were such were non-existent but I never took to the bottle.
Just one question: Where do these juvenilles get cash for the booze????
These bars must be closed and licenses cancelled. Furthermore persons whose name appears on the licenses should be barred for a period of time. Identifications must be checked by bar owners when people enter the establishments.
What are the Police in the big cities doing? Juvenile drinking must be worse in Lusaka.