Ombudsman warns on street children situation
The Office of the Ombudsman says it will move to report the Ministry of Gender to parliament if it fails to adhere to the directive it was given to remove street kids.
The warning follows an investigation that the Ombudsman conducted in which it was established that the country has got a lot of street children.
With this, the Gender Ministry was ordered to remove them as a way of enforcing sanity.
In an interview with MIJ Online, Ombudsman Martha Chizuma said if the ministry fails to adhere to the directive before 31 March, the issue will be taken to parliament for further unspecified action.
Chizuma has since called for the need for the ministry to work with Non-Governmental Organizations running miscellaneous projects meant to curb the alarming situation.
‘’We have also called on the ministry to give us a report on the matter before we reach the dates we have given them,’’ she said.
The Ministry is yet to comment on the matter.
About 6% of the country’s children do not attend primary school according to Unicef estimates.
Government figures indicate that Blantyre and Lilongwe have a combined population of 4, 000 children who roam the streets daily to beg while 454 are completely homeless.