Chieftainess Malembeka cautions her subjects against early marriages

Chieftainess Malembeka cautions her subjects against early marriages

Mpongwe, May 23, 2013, ZANIS – Chieftainess Malembeka of the Lamba people in Mpongwe District has warned her subjects of stain action for marrying their girl children  in exchange for cattle.

ZANIS reports from Ndola that Chieftainess Malembeka  issued the warning when she addressed parents and pupils at Kamabaya primary school in Mpongwe yesterday.

Chieftainess Malembeka  noted that that the number of young girls dropping out of school at an early stage had increased because their parents or guardians preferred to marry them off for cattle.

“I am warning parents here to stop marrying off young girls in this area in exchange for cattle, those who will be found wanting will be dealt with severely because educating a girl child is educating the entire nation,” Chieftainess Malembeka warned.

She said if a girl child was educated the parents would in return get more than cattle that parents would be proud to have an educated figure in the family.

She said educated girls were bound to do more for their parents than the cattle that parents were getting in exchange for the young girls who are being married off.

Chieftainess Malembeka said the young girls were not strong enough for them to withstand the pressure that comes with marriage.

She said marrying off young girls put that at a high risk because once impregnated they faced a lot of complications that lead to maternal deaths.

She said if the trend of marrying off young girls continued it would be difficult for government to attain the millennium development goals on reducing maternal deaths in the country by 2015.

Chieftainess Malembeka  issued the warning due the reports she had received recently that there was rampant marrying off of young girls in exchange for cattle in Kamabaya village.