MUTINTA MULAYE writes
A CLEANER of Garden Compound has been dragged to court by his former wife for child maintenance.
Before Boma Local Court Magistrate Contilda Kamono was Esau Banda,40, of Kamwala South who was sued by Alice Phiri, 36 for child maintenance.
Banda told the court that he would not pay child maintenance as long as Phiri continued denying him access to his children.
Ms Phiri admitted denying Banda access to his children.
She told the court that she has five children with Banda who he has not been providing for them.
She also told the court that the two divorced in 2017 and that even when the two were still in marriage, she was the one who took care of the home.
“Elo after chikwati cha sila, bana sibayenda ku sukulu chifukwa cha support, ine sinikwanisa neka elo umozi mukazi ana yenda kuchi kwati pa 17 years. Batate babo sibafuna ku sapota bana,”
“After we divorced, the children stopped going to school because their father was not support them:, our 17 year old daughter is even married. Their father does not want to support them,” Ms Phiri told the court.
Ms Phiri further told the court that when the two divorced, the children were staying with their father but later run away from him.
“Bana tabako kuli ba tate babo ikalibe ku kwana na 2 weeks, benzo niuza ati sibenzo nkala bwino elo benzo ba benya maningi, elo sibenzo kudya, sibenzo nkala bwino kuchokela apo, aba ba Banda sibama funa ku sapota bana,”
“The children ran away from his place in less that 2 weeks and said he used to mistreat them and beat them, they were not properly fed, since then Mr Banda has not been wanting to support them,” Phiri said.
Mr Banda then surprised the court when he said, “Ine munipase chabe bana nanga sininga kangiwe ku sapota bana bali banga, bana bafunika balipo popanga budget, noti vonileso kuona bana then ufuna ndalama,”
“Just give me the children, I cannot fail to support children that are mine, they need to be around when I’m making a budget, you can’t be refusing me to see my children and keep asking for money from me,”
Banda told the court that he wanted the children because he did not like the environment they were staying in with their mother.
“My children do not stay in a good home and they do not even know what school is at this point, when I get them I want to educate them,” Mr Banda told the court.
Banda also told the court that Phiri was very irresponsible woman who only knew how to spend money on gambling and blamed that bad habit for children not going to school.
He emphasized to the court that he cannot fail to provide for his children but also wanted either custody of the children or access.
The court ruled that the children should continue staying with their mother and if Banda wanted them he should sue for custody.
The court also ordered Phiri to allow Banda access to the children.