Minister chases beggars from Zomba streets

Minister of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare Patricia Kaliati on Saturday chased street children and beggars from the streets of Zomba City.

The minister was on her way to Matache Village, Traditional Authority Mposa in Machinga District to launch both this year’s National Campaign Week of Early Childhood Development and Timverane Community-Based Childcare Centre (CBCC).

She said government is making strides in chasing away street kids and beggars from all cities, adding this is a continuous exercise.

Said Kaliati: “My apology for coming late to this function. In fact, I made a stopover in Zomba where I was chasing away street kids and beggars. I will not get tired until all the country’s cities are clean.

“For your information, I conducted a similar exercise in Lilongwe last week where I made progress and my next destination is Blantyre City.”

She said government will not compromise the implementation of child rights at a time when the country has numerous legal instruments to protect them.

According to statistics, Lilongwe has about 7 000 street children and beggars, Blantyre has about 5 000, Zomba 2 000 and Mzuzu about 500. n