CSOs court Karonga District Council on child marriages

Karonga District Civil Society Organisations Network chairperson Jabess Nyirenda has asked the district council to work with community leaders to end child marriages.

He said this on Saturday during an extraordinary full council meeting on how to end the vice.

The meeting followed the district’s Health System Information, Gender, Social Welfare and Education report for the 2020-23 on teen pregnancies, child marriages and school dropouts.

“The report says from 2020 to 2023, the district registered 206 pregnancies of girls aged between 10 and 14,” said Nyirenda.

He asked the council to help communities formulate and enforce by-laws to end child marriages.

Senior Chief Kilupula said traditional leaders were equally alarmed with the findings of the report.

“We are compelled to enforce by-laws to make sure that every parent is responsible for their children to end teen pregnancies, child marriages and school dropouts,” he said.

Karonga district gender and development officer Ireen Mwenelupembe thanked the stakeholders for expressing willingness to work with the council to protect girls.

“The alarming rates of teen pregnancies, child marriages and unsafe abortion cases from the report and other institutions indicate that there were more defilement cases and abortions. The collaboration will reduce the cases,” she said.

Momentum Tikweze Umoyo Project supported the extraordinary meeting with support from USAid.