This week, I sit back to allow two followers of Off the Shelf, Mwangi Mwamkenenge Musukwa and Reagan Kaluluma, to air their sentiments on issues I raised in my post last week on street kids, the police and crime in the cities. I have edited the articles for space.

‘Steve, I totally agree with you on the issues you highlighted. These things happen in all our major cities, if not everywhere. One evening in mid-June this year, I and a colleague were coming from the Malangalanga Mosque down to Lilongwe Bridge. When we reached Sana Supermarket we found a mob of PMF officers whipping a young man who had attempted to snatch a jumbo full of groceries from some unsuspecting shopper. He then sprang up and ran like a tiger towards Bwalolanjobvu Police Unit nearby. How he crossed the road with all that heavy traffic, only God knows.

But my friend recognised him. It was the same young man who nearly robbed him a week before around the same place. He had stopped for a cold one at Nanyathi Bar in Bwaila Street, popularly known as Devil Street. After leaving the bar, he was attacked by three roughnecks. One of them went for his wallet but he was lucky to get hold of it before and broke away. The other two then ran into different directions. At Lilongwe Bridge a man volunteered to escort him to Area 3, to which my friend refused. The ‘volunteer’ insisted and kept him company along the Likuni Road up to Lilongwe Police Station. Sensing danger, the gentleman turned to the police for protection. As he was negotiating for escort, the officer at the Daily Occurrence Bench/Book (DOB or OB) told him to spend the night in the cell for his safety. To his dismay, he saw the “Good Samarian” boldly enter the station and followed him straight to the same cell. This confused the victim more. He simply walked out back to the road. Thank God he arrived home safely. This could only mean that some street kids and vagabonds are agents of some security agents. Just as you rightly put it, they share the booty. Welcome to our Reformed Malawi Police Service.

Mwangi Mwamkenenge’

‘Dear Mr Nhlane,

I read your Off the Shelf article of August 19 2023 where you highlighted the terror and brutality that is being unleashed by street kids in Blantyre. On behalf of many of us you lamented how uncontrollable this situation is fast becoming. You then pleaded with the law enforcement agency, the Police to deal with this device once and for all.

The issue of street kids is not a straight forward one. It goes beyond mere implementation of the law, mere loading them in the van and damping them somewhere, mere presence of the police all the time. As a country we have tried for many years to make our streets safe but have not been successful.

Why is it manageable but complicated to deal with street kids once and for all?

As a country we are dealing with symptoms not factors that necessitate children to be in the streets. Street children are often associated with poverty. High poverty level makes it hard for parents to provide physical and social support to their children as such the children go into the streets for their survival and sometimes that of their parents. If one is to trace where these children are coming from or grew up, you will likely find majority come from economically disempowered households. Currently, we are told that 50.7 percent of the population is poor. How are families coping?

The second factor often associated with street kids is dysfunctional families. With extreme poverty come social problems leading to weak families with high separation and divorce rate. What happens when families breakdown? Kids bear the real pain as they have to live with one parent or on their own. Third factor is rapid urbanisation where more people move to urban areas looking for jobs and business opportunities. With a shrinking economy then shrinking opportunities for town dwellers, this is creates a favourable ground for vices like street kids. For their survival and that of their family members, children can either go into the streets to beg or rob or they can be hired to do this for the most experienced hard core street ninjas.

Addressing this requires concerted efforts and a long-term plan which is well coordinated and financed. If we can’t tame poverty levels, it will be very difficult to deal with this issue once and for all.

Reagan Kaluluma’

Mwangi and Reagan, I thank you for your feedback. Please write again.

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