Candidates missed out on child protection—Cedep

Centre for the Development of People (Cedep) has said the second presidential debate failed to live to people’s expectations as some of responses coming from the presidential candidates raised more questions to the electorate whether they are indeed prepared for presidency.

According to Cedep executive director Gift Trapence, most of the presidential candidates felt short of understanding current issues and it was shocking to notice that some of them did not even thoroughly understand the core issues affecting children in Malawi.

“I was expecting them to state how their government if elected would protect the child from neglect, discrimination, violence, sexual abuse, exploitation, oppression and exposure to physical, mental, social hazards as well as how they would deal with early marriages, education and school drop-out.

“However, surprisingly, we heard some of the presidential aspirants connecting child abuse to homosexuality when the two are not connected anywhere,” said Trapence.

“It is myopic thinking to equate child abuse cases to the state of being a homosexual or a heterosexual. The causes of child abuse are not homosexuality or heterosexuality,” he said.

Trapence said the majority of the rape cases, child defilement cases are done in heterosexual settings and it was his expectation to hear concrete measures the aspirants would put in place to protect children and promote their in Malawi.ated in the second presidential debates which took place on Tuesday at Bingu International Conference Centre (Bicc) in Lilongwe.