Kalomo parents warned over early marriages

Kalomo parents warned over early marriages

Kalomo, June 11, 2013, ZANIS – Authorities in Kalomo district in the southern province

have threatened to take legal action against parents who are in the habit of marrying off

their girl children at an early age for financial gain.

Both the district administration and education authorities in the area are unhappy

with the continued trend by some parents to marry-off young girls instead of grooming

them to be responsible citizens who might contribute to national development in the future.

District administrative officer, Justus Phiri, said even neglecting

children to herd domestic animals or subjecting them to domestic

chores at the expense of taking them to school constituted child

labour saying such trends in communities were regrettable.

And Kalomo district education standards officer Phirance Daka

has requested traditional leaders in Zimba and Kalomo districts to

ensure that they submit names of parents who  marry off their

children below the age of 18 years.

Mrs Daka said the practice was especially common among girl children adding

that this needs to be stopped by reporting such parents to the police in order

for the law to take its course.

She observed that such cases have continued to rise in rural communities and

have gone unabated due to the lack of information flow to the relevant authorities for justice to

prevail.

“Let us marry off these girls when they are ripe enough to look after

themselves and even to take care of a man and mostly its through

educating them that they can be self-sustainable even in marriages,

that’s what we can call development,” said Mrs Daka.

The two district leaders were speaking yesterday during a combined

handover ceremony of five classrooms  and a donation of 225 desks by a

non-governmental organization , African Revival.

The classroom blocks were built at three different learning institutions in Mapatizya constituency

located in Zimba district at a cost of KR300 000.00.

The three schools that benefited from the infrastructure development

and desks were Mooka primary school, Jokwe and Simalele community

schools.

The handover ceremony was  witnessed by area member of

parliament, Clive Miyanda and chief Simwatachela, who is also school

headteacher for Jokwe school.

And African Revival progarmme manager Lois Cochrane commended

government for creating an enabling environment in which charitable organizations

have partnered  with it to develop needy sectors in rural areas.