Mwinyi stresses on good parenting

ZANZIBAR: PRESIDENT Hussein Ali Mwinyi has called for strengthened good parenting as a background for children to become decent and patriotic in making Tanzania become a crime-free country.

“We need to promote and sustain good behaviours among children. Parenting begins at the family level then community and the government level in the hierarchy. If you collectively do that, we cannot have thieves, rapists, corrupt leaders and illicit drug users,” Dr Mwinyi said here over the weekend.

He said this after having a Friday mass prayer at Masjid (Mosque) Makuti, in the outskirts of the Stone Town, and emphasised.

“Being a good parent (mother/father) is the most important thing because a child’s growth starts with a parent.”

It is a normal practice by top leaders led by President Mwinyi to briefly address the worshippers after the Friday prayers. Dr Mwinyi used the opportunity to encourage responsible parenting in society to avoid evil practices and offences including genderbased violence (GBV).

“Good education starts at the family level, so parents should do your work seriously and teachers in schools and other members of the community as well as the government through its institutions are just helpers,” Dr Mwinyi explained.

He also urged parents to be close and listen to their children so that they can guide them or find solutions to challenges the children encounter.

Dr Mwinyi also urged religious leaders and elders in the community to up their role in shaping the society through different approaches. He made statement in response to the growing moral decay in the society, where many children fall victims of drug addiction, violence and increasing concerns about insecurity in the streets.

Activists, police, and the Zanzibar Ministry of Social Development, Elders, Gender and Children have on several occasions issued statements of concerns over moral decays which trigger crimes including abuse of children and women.

The incidents in the society also linked to immorality in the society include young people taking their own life; violation of human rights among the ordinary people; armed robbery; and unnecessary disputes over properties.