A fifty-four year old man in Lusaka has been ordered by a local court to maintain his five children with a K700 monthly fee.
Aaron Manengu, a farm handman of Makeni residential area, was sued by his daughter Leah, 27, for allegedly failing to look after his children.
Leah told presiding magistrate Miyanda Banda siting with Hariet Mulenga, that her father had married another woman and abandoned her younger siblings forcing her to look after them.
“He has been living in Makeni for 10 years now where he is married to another woman. My younger siblings do not go to school because he does not support them. Our last born is 7 years old,” said Leah.
She said that the children had sought to use the rentals from his Copperbelt-based house but they were informed that he wanted to sell it.
“I brought him here because he does not support the children, saying he has no money. One of my siblings paased to grade 8 but he said that he had no money to pay for him,” she said.
But Mr Manengu in his defence said that he was facing a lot of problems and had so many people to look after.
“I send money to her mother but she just spends it on alcohol. I started sending the money to Leah but her brother beats her over it. I did not neglect them but they neglected themselves,” said Mr Manengu.
Magistrate Banda ordered him to start maintaining his children saying that he was also capable of looking after his children if he had the money to marry another woman.
