KAYONZA district authorities have ordered the arrest of a Rukara sector couple who abandoned their children in the family’s  home.

Addressing hundreds of Rukara residents yesterday, the Vice Mayor in charge of Social affairs, Anita Mutesi, said Francois Nkurunziza and Francine Mukanemba abandoned their six children, including twins, on the pretext that they were going to look for jobs.

Francois Nshimiyimana, 16, the eldest child said their father was the first to leave and the mother followed a week after, leaving the children helpless and dejected.

"It is now two weeks since we saw our parents. We are starving and so far we have not got any communication from either of our parents,” said the sobbing little boy.
The Executive Secretary of Rukara sector, Marie Gorethe Uwizeye, condemned what she called child neglect, vowing to hunt down the couple in coordination with police.

"Child neglect is punishable by the law. Such a couple deserves a severe punishment as a deterrent to other potential child abusers.

Rukara has many irresponsible parents that we have to deal with,” she said angrily. Mary Gasengayire, the National Women Council (CNF) representative in Rukara, attributed such act of child neglect, to alcoholism.

She said that as a result of heavy drinking some rural parents are known to be reckless, and don’t care about how many children they produce, or abandon them at will.
"It is not surprising to find some of these couples drinking alcohol from sunrise to sunset. Local leaders have got to be more vigilant,” she warned.

The father of the children is believed to be hiding in the neighbouring village of Muziza, but there is no clue on the whereabouts of the mother.

Ends