Some residents of Lusaka’s Kanyama Compound have called on the local authority to consider banning sex workers from patronising bars.

Some male patrons have since expressed worry over the abuse of alcohol by women.

One of the residents Danny Gondwe expressed worry at the number of sex workers patronising bars thereby spreading the HIV virus.

Gondwe said that some sex workers in the compound were fond of patronising bars as early as 08:00 hours and charging their clients as low as K10 for their services.

Meanwhile Gondwe noted that in as much as women and men have the right of association, the trend where women abuse alcohol has gone out of hand adding that this has also contributed to the high number of divorce cases in the area.

“Women are the custodians of a home, we cannot change that fact, in as much as some men drink irresponsibly, it is unfortunate that nowadays, most women tend to spend the whole day in the bar forgetting to take care of the home,” Gondwe explained.

Another Patron Phenias Kunda called on marriage counsellors to discourage women from abusing alcohol but concentrate on building the home.

“More women are found in bars than they used to sometime back. They also take illicit alcohol as as kachasu and spirits commonly known as junta. Some women get divorced because of alcohol abuse,” he noted.

He also backed calls to ban sex workers from patronising bars saying that if this was a solution to save marriages and to stop the spread of HIV, then he does not see why this should not happen.

And Marrine Kunda said in as much as it seems wrong for a woman to patronise bars, women should not be discriminated.

“We are also against the trend where women spend the whole day in bars, some marriages have broken down because of beer drinking, the only solution is empower us women so that they can venture into clean business.

And Kanyama Constituency Member of Parliament Elizaberth Phiri says one of her priority is to empower more women in the area.

Phiri said that it was her passion to see women venturing in productive activities so that they could improve their lives.
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