Govt. commends anti- early marriage project in Luapula

Govt. commends anti- early marriage project in Luapula

Chembe, May 19, 2013 – ZANIS – Government says it  has commended Luapula Foundation for piloting a project on the fight against early marriages in the district.

Chembe District Commissioner Simon Lwando  says on behalf of government he was happy that the foundation has taken the initiative to start a district fight against early marriages through policy engagement in his district.

He said early marriages for the girls resulted in the loss of educational opportunities for them to live a better life and increased the illiteracy levels in the district.

ZANIS reports that the District Commissioner said this during a meeting with 69 village head persons in Chembe District, yesterday.

He said his Office was happy that the foundation has chosen to take on the fight from Kasoma lwela’s chiefdom   which has high cases of early marriages.

Mr. Lwando urged all the stakeholders to emulate Luapula Foundation  and become vigilant and fully involved in the fight.

He urged the foundation to continue empowering the local people with knowledge about the dangers of early marriages so that the fight could become localised for every stakeholder to take a lead in the fight.

And Luapula Foundation Director Moses Zulu says early marriages were detrimental to national development.

Mr. Zulu said the vice must be fought by everyone as robs young girls of school going age a golden opportunity to become economically useful in later life.

He said his foundation had noticed several girls dropping out of school by choice for early marriages or by being forced into it by their parents.

He said the scourge has been responsible for the girls remaining backwards in participating in the economic life of the community because of incapacity to understand the economic and social factors at play at community level.