CCJP says chiefs key to ending early marriages
Mzuzu Diocese Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) has said traditional leaders are critical to fighting ills of child marriages in Mzimba Districts and stressed the need to effectively engage them.
Mzuzu Diocese CCJP diocesan secretary Arnold Msimuko said this on Tuesday in Mzimba during a review meeting CCJP held with chiefs from different areas in the district on the three-year project, Women and Girls’ Rights and Access to Justice.
He said96“Chiefs are the custodians of culture and law at a local level. Therefore, empowering them as agents of change in issues of child marriages can help end the malpractice.
“Since we started implementing this project in 2016, we have rescued 48 girls from early marriage and had them re-admitted to school. We have also resolved over 465 cases of violence against women.”
In her remarks, Mzimba South district social welfare assistant Shaida Matola appealed to stakeholders, including the chiefs, to work together in rooting out hitches that are forcing girls into early marriage in Mzimba.
She said: “Our records show that from 2016 to 2018, we registered 254 cases of child marriages in Mzimba South only.”
Speaking on behalf of other chiefs, group village head Charles Chirwa from Makali Village, Traditional Authority Kampingo Sibande, pledged traditional leaders’ commitment to ensuring that issues of child marriages and gender-based violence are checked in the district.
The project, funded by Misereor Germany to the tune of K153 million, is concluding this year.
