Street Children Menace In Rumbek

Over 20 street children in Lakes State capital Rumbek last week clashed with a businessman over theft allegations.

The 1 O’clock fracas between a beer businessman Khemis Jackson and a street boy intensified when another group of street children joined their colleague in beating the businessman.

The businessman had accused the street boy of snatching beer bottles as beer crates were being offloaded at his shop.

The street urchins attacked Khemis with stones and sticks before the police intervened.

The shocked businessman said he was surprised when he saw a big number of street children coming towards his shop armed with sticks and stones and began attacking him.

“They beat me badly and I was confused to confront them as they were so many. This is not the first time the street kids were stealing beer from me whenever I am offloading”, he said.

The businessman said he was simply instilling discipline in the street children, but did not expect the small issue to explode to such magnitude.

However, street children accused some businessmen of harassing them on falsehoods and called for government protection.

“I call upon our Governor Chol Tong to urgently address this problem as we are going to die. Our families are not taking care of us and so it is only the government that can look after us since we are also part of the future. We even voted Chol Tong into power and he is now forgetting us”, said a street boy Sebit Majak.

He appealed to the State Governor to give them a good place anywhere in Rumbek so that they can be sheltered from unnecessary harassment from members of the public.

Since 2008, a big number of street children from all the eight counties of the state have been descending upon Rumbek Town but the issue remains unresolved.

However, during his election campaign, Engineer Chol Tong Mayay pledged that suitable measures will be taken to rid the streets of urchins.