Sean Tembo has criticized the move by the New Dawn Administration to take over the affairs of the 13 kidn@pped girls after their release.

Yesterday, government announced that it will maintain custody of the said girls from hospital, and that the Ministry Community Development had since put them in a shelter.

And in a statement to the media today, leader of Patriots for Economic Progress (PeP) said the move makes sad reading adding that the rescued girls have families.

Mr Tembo wondered why government did not make it optional as to whether the victims should go home to their families or be kept in a Government shelter.

“These rescued girls are not orphans but belong to families and should be reunited with their respective relatives so that they can begin the process of psychological and physical healing from the s@xual abuse that they were subjected to by their kidn@ppers,” he said.

“If the UPND Government was sincere in this matter, why didn’t they give each of the 13 girls an option of whether to go home to their families or being kept in a Government shelter like orphans? Why did the UPND decide to railroad all the 13 girls into a shelter against their wishes? Why has the UPND Government decided to cut all communication between the 13 girls and the outside world?”

Meanwhile, Mr Tembo has charged that the UPND government has kidn@pped the girls “for the second time.

He however implored President Hakainde Hichilema to let the girls go to their respective homes.

“The definition of kidn@pping is holding someone against their will, and in this instance we can safely say that the UPND Government has kidn@pped the 13 girls for the second time. Why is the UPND Government afraid of allowing these 13 girls to go home and tell their stories? Are they afraid that the girls might implicate someone important in Government, hence their second kidn@pping? Where are the civil society organizations which are supposed to fight for the rights of the vulnerable in our community?” he asked.

“My message to President Hakainde Hichilema is; please Mr. President, do not kidn@p these girls for the second time. Let them go home to their families. From a psychological point of view, the shelter you have put these girls in will soon start resembling the kidn@ppers house in which they lived for more than 6 months. Before you realize it, you might find cases of su*cide among the girls due to a psychological breakdown. Please sir, release the girls from this unlawful detention by Government. They have already gone through enough. Stop it now sir !!!”