FIGHTING CHILD MARRIAGES

ZAMBIA has a serious battle to stop child marriages which are on the rise. It is sad that while the government is making efforts to eradicate child marriages, reports of under age girls being forced out of school and into marriage, are also on the increase. Early this year, nine girls at a primary school in Siavonga were taken out of school by their parents and married off. A concerned teacher reported the matter to police and apart from threats to arrest the erring parents, no concrete development came out of this. A few days ago, Mkushi had a report of nine under age primary school girls being withdrawn and forced into marriage. The parents are known but again, no action has been taken to rescue the girls or punish the parents or guardians for acting contrary to the law. It is quite clear that fighting child marriage is no easy task because of the economic benefits accruing to parents who marry off their children as well as cultural beliefs, all working to encourage the scourge. That is why we are happy to note that the newly appointed Gender minister has been directed to exert more energy to fight child marriages. Speaking at State House in Lusaka yesterday when he swore in Kanyama Member of Parliament, Elizabeth Phiri as Gender Minister, President Lungu challenged the lawmaker to buy into his vision of bringing to zero marriages of innocent under aged girls not only in Zambia but the whole of Africa. As President Lungu said, there should be a zero tolerance policy on rising cases of child marriages. Fighting child marriages is a subject close to the President and First Lady, Esther Lungu, and it is not surprising that the Gender minister has been given clear instructions to continue the fight. We hope that Madam Phiri will spend more time spreading the message, especially in the rural areas where the practice is all too common. The honourable member of Parliament, Madam Phiri, has therefore been given a tough assignment which must be done effectively to save the many girls being pushed into early marriage. It does not help that culturally, parents gain monetarily from marrying off their daughters and this forces some of them to auction off even the underage girls. The fight needs to be taken to the rural areas where girls as young as 14 years embrace marriage and regard it as normal. We feel that more traditional leaders need to be brought on board to stop child marriages. There are a few good examples of traditional leaders leading the fight such as Chief Madzimawe and Chief Chanje among others who are determined to ensure that culprits, including parents and the men involved, are arrested. This is more effective because the villagers know that both the traditional and government leadership would not condone the illegality of marrying off minors. The new Gender minister, therefore, has to be ready to confront tradition to fight this battle successfully.