With purring reports of sexual attacks, 2020 has been a bad year for women and girls in Malawi. From President Lazarus Chakwera to the activists, nearly everyone has talked tough against sexual violence which has made the Warm Heart of Africa a harsh place for daughters of Malawi to grow in. However, the tough talk falls flat in the ground when it comes to child marriages, the most acceptable form of defilement as girls below 18 find themselves in these illegal sexual relationships Parliament wanted ended when lawmakers unanimously passed the amendment the marriageable age in 2017. What does the President, who has spoken fluently against rape and defilement, say about marriages involving girls below the marriageable age? Our features editor JAMES CHAVULA engages presidential secretary Brian Banda to get answers from the highest political office.
Q
How does the President feel when he hears of a girl below 18 getting married or pregnant considering that Parliament during his tenure as Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly passed a constitutional amendment that bans child marriages and the penal code outlaws sex with girls below 17?
A
When the President gave a report to the nation on what his government had done in the first 100 days, this was among what he said, “We have made progress in the development of the National Older Persons Bill to regulate the protection of the elderly, and we have dissolved 3 098 child marriages.” The President is not only aware of the practice of child marriages, he is also taking an active role in ending child marriages, in putting up initiatives that will put girls in school, in supporting organisations that are already confronting this problem.
Q
What does he make of the continued cases of the twin problem despite the existence of relevant laws?
A
In terms of laws, the President has made it clear that he will never interfere with the law. But he has also said, if matters are brought forward to his desk, and there is clear evidence that a controlling officer has been standing in the way of justice, such an officer will face the law and will surely be replaced by competent people.
Q
In view of thousands of teen pregnancy and child marriages that erupted during the five-month school break to slow Covid-19 school breaks, what new strategy does the President bring to the table to end this? How far is Chakwera willing to go to make the 2017 law work and ensure Malawi achieves its goal to end child marriages by 2030?
A
The President recognises that as a nation, we ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991, committing ourselves to ensure that all children in Malawi have the right to grow up with love, care, and respect. In this context, the government’s role has been to align legislation, policy, and practice with this sacred commitment and one of them is the 2017 bill. It will interest you to learn that the government has finished harmonising all laws related to children and the Ministry of Justice is ready to take them to Parliament for consideration.
Chakwera’s government is also implementing the National Children’s Commission Act of 2019 to oversee all issues relating to children and ensure accountability on the same at all levels. The government is also preparing for the mass birth and child registration exercise to take place in 2021 so that it closes the gap in registration of children below age 16, which stands at 8.4 million. The President is willing to do everything within his powers to make sure that the girl child has the right to education and all other rights.
