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{
    "id": 1440436,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1440436/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 261,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Moiben, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Phylis Bartoo",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Hon. Deputy Speaker, children are very vulnerable, especially when they are not catered for and, more so, if their parents are from a vulnerable background. So, it is very problematic when both the child and the parent are vulnerable. Recently, while I was traversing my constituency, I came across so many children who were facing serious challenges. They were born out of wedlock when their mothers were still in school and they have now been left with their grandparents. The grandparents do not even know what to do with those children because their mothers have possibly run away from home because they cannot provide for them. It is very problematic. They are now children in the business of making illicit brews. They are children in our streets because something somewhere is wrong. Hon. Deputy Speaker, on the issue of going to school, when we are giving out bursaries, the bulk of the needy cases are those children who have been abandoned by their mothers. Their mothers got pregnant when they were young and left them. Those children have now been left with their grandparents who are aging and cannot protect them. In as much as I support this Bill, it is also important to note that we have several bits and pieces of legislations on issues touching on children. The Children Act has been progressive. There are so many legislations that have been passed on issues affecting the children. The Children’s Court caters for so many of those issues. In my view, the Mover of the Bill should just redraft it. In as much as she wanted to bring a framework to look into issues of children, she needs to go back to the drawing board and redraft it. She should churn out real issues that have not been catered for so that we can have one comprehensive Act that caters for all issues. We cannot legislate every piece of issue. The society is progressive and there will be several challenges facing children from different perspectives in different forms and so on. We need to have one umbrella Act which caters for all children to avoid having several bits and pieces of legislation. In doing so, we will avoid having ambiguous laws in a court of law where one deletes another. I think it is important to have one comprehensive law. On the issue of education, I do not think anyone can be denied a chance to go back to school after they get pregnant. The Basic Education Act is very clear. Young mothers are allowed to go back to school. Young mothers have been given an opportunity whereby if you fall by the wayside, you can still pick up yourself, get somewhere for the child to stay and then go back to school. We need to comb out all those issues which we can anchor in the Children’s Act. Nowadays, our courts of law are going back to the alternative justice systems because we cannot always have everything done in a court of law. It is providing frameworks for people to sort out societal issues through alternative justice systems. The Chief Justice and the entire judicial system have come up with a very comprehensive way of sorting out those issues in a very harmonious way by having the people decide. However, in the case of children, it can be very problematic because their issues can be mismanaged. We also have to be very careful so that we do not destroy the moral fabric of society. We should not just encourage or plan for an illegality; for instance, a young girl having sex when she is underage. There is also a provision in law for that. We should not look too much into it to an extent that we now go back and destroy the moral fabric. We will have young girls just getting pregnant because they know the child will be protected, taken to a care centre and provided for in terms of medication, and so on. Let us not forget that morality is also important. It should be made very clear that when you are a child or a student, sex is a no-go zone. That you must wait until you are of age. They should be encouraged to go to school and when they are done, the rest will come. They should do the right thing at the right time. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}