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Home / Maintenance dodgers to be named and shamed - Kawana

Maintenance dodgers to be named and shamed - Kawana

2016-02-11  Staff Report 2

Maintenance dodgers to be named and shamed - Kawana
Windhoek Fathers and mothers who fail to honour maintenance obligations for their children will be named and shamed through the media. The Minister of Justice, Dr Albert Kawana, said this when responding to how far he is with the decision to place photographs in the newspapers of fathers and mothers who default on paying maintenance. Following announcements in the media last year, Kawana said he was busy with amendments to the Maintenance Act. “I am working on the amendments to the Maintenance Act because I received suggestions as per the advert I put in the newspaper inviting members of the public and institutions to give me proposals on how to amendment the Act, with the view to make it more effective,” he said. Until he got the go-ahead from Cabinet he could not say what amendments he was working on or what proposals he received. Kawana said he would go to Cabinet for approval and thereafter finalise the proposed amendments before heading to parliament. However, Kawana indicated it is not only fathers but also mothers who fail to support their children. “We are also going to name and shame mothers. We are not just targeting fathers but also mothers. You know sometimes in our society the father works and the mother does not, and vice versa. The law will not discriminate on the basis of sex. If the mother works and does not support the child, or if the mother receives maintenance and abuses it we are going to deal with all those people,” Kawana warned. Kawana said what prompted the action was that “people have been complaining and children are suffering. President Hage Geingob declared war on poverty and we cannot leave those children in poverty while there are people who can support and maintain them.” “I am just following the directives of my boss, President Geingob, to make sure there is prosperity for all and those who can bring about that prosperity must take their responsibility seriously. I will not compromise on them.”
2016-02-11  Staff Report 2

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