Friday, March 29, 2024

North West minister warns against eary marriages

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North-Western Province Minister, Kenneth Chipungu has cautioned parents against marrying off their daughters at tender age.

Mr Chipungu said it is unfair to marry off children at tender age because their future gets destroyed.

He said children should be given time to go to school and finish education so that they could look after themselves saying nowadays getting jobs go with the level of education one has attained

Mr Chipungu said this when he addressed meetings with parents in Musele ward during his tour of developmental projects in the area.

He appealed to head teachers to list names of children who have been withdrawn from schools for marriage and forward them provincial offices so that remedial action could be taken.

Meanwhile, Mr Chipungu has advised the pupils to dedicate themselves to learning.

Speaking when he addressed Jivundu High School pupils,Mr Chipungu said pupils should concentrate on studies and think about marriage after they have completed training at tertiary level.

Mr Chipungu further advised the children to be wary about HIV/AIDS, saying the pandemic has taken away a lot of intelligent people who could have led the country to prosperity.

18 COMMENTS

  1. School going children need some social amenities and other necessary stuff to keep them focused on how they can use their talents in this their life.

  2. Can someone please tell the minister that the biggest problem in N W province particularly Solwezi right now is prostitution. He should not bury his heads in the sand and yet this town has become the headquaters of prostitution in Zambia. I believe many people including him is aware of this. Nakonde and Chirundu have been overtaken. The results of these activities will soon show. Say 4 or 5 years down the line. Talking about early marriege given the activities of this province is nonsense.

  3. yaba, early marriages topics again, if i can ask the minister just two questions? how many schols in western province have their libraries full of all the educational books and sports activities has his minister provided and when was the last time the parents for those children got paid for their farm produce or be employed by the government so as to keep them going. people lets get real and not just put blame at people without really looking at the matter critically, give them them parents jobs and children educational necessities not mentioning careers guidance on how their future will be not just talking nonsense on da media for nothing…..

  4. Another case of the bleeding obvious from another politician. LT, can I bite a dog for you to have real news?

  5. Belita a girl of 11 years was married off by her grandfather for 10 pini, thats the price for a 5 litre container of chibuku! She had to marry an old man who has been very aggresive to her, so much that he has knocked out all the front teeth. Now Belita is 17 years old, has 4 kids no teeth, no life, no love and no future.

  6. Poor belita, people like her grandfather are the kind of people that shud be getting locked up. This thing of being sold to older men just for the sake of getting bride price is of the past now.Some of this sore called tradition i do not like and wats this minister saying about early marrages! when people cannot afford to take their children to school all thanks to a government that is thrieving with corrupt practices. Its a shame to see the level of poverty in our beautiful mother land and until our govt changes its ways this is wat is going to continue tearing this country apart.

  7. they are better off married early to prevent the hiv pandemic,cause usually girls become sexually active in early ages thats why the turn to big men who end up infecting them.which is better being infecyed or marriage

  8. #5 Where were the mother, father uncles or aunts? Sounds rather curious that of all people the grandpa is the one who goes to ‘sell’ an 11yr old girl to another apparently potent old man. If this is a true story this family’s dysfunctionality is very disturbing as the 4 kids are the latest victims. There is need for intervention, from the minister perhaps?

  9. #9 to cut a long story short, Belita’s mum became mentaly sick with schizophrenia (mentally sick) after she lost her last baby, Belita was then just 1 year and some months, she was left on a bus by her sick mother and ended up in a childrens home in Kasisi, she had an elder brother 5yrs old, and an elder sister 3 and a half years old. The father remarried, but was brutally murdered in Chililabombwe over a woman just a few years on. That left the kids with no option but to go and stay with granddad, Belita was removed from the childrens home” after the grandfather read “her story” in the national newspaper, a few years on she was married off to an old man, and yes even old men are very potent

  10. #10 LOBOLA
    shame shame on the old man to do such a terible thing to belita beta to be left at the orphanage that to spoil her life, i feel pity for the girl and the 4 kids….

  11. It seems that this is an unfortunate common pratice, and yes prostitution is comtaminating the area. I really feel sorry for Balita she didn’t have a childhood, was not able to get a good education, he may have damaged her physically, mentally and emotionally. Here in the United States such practices are not tolerated, men will go to jail for touching teenagers of the age of 17yrs old and down. I pray for all of you! and will try to advocate and work as a liason to put an end to such pratices.

  12. if the govt could build more schools ,social infrastructures in rural ares early marriages wont be a problem but as long as there is nothing to do for young girls in rural apart cooking and having children with old men because all the young men are in lusaka and cb.let the govt encourage urbun_rural migrations by building, schools,giving loans to those who want to go and settle in rural areas ,eucouraging farm cooperations centres , factories in rural areas i get sick looking at the streets in lusaka full of old people and unemployed people thank God street kids are not like 4 years ago

  13. Actually the social problems Zambia is facing is mainly due to unplanned children being born everyday! The majority of couples have children they cannot afford to raise decently. The children of the majority Zambians have a bleak future, already determined to be semi slave-like because they have no chance to be educated, to be disciplined, to receive moral values, etc the list is endless! My observation in Europe is that there are far less children than adults, meaning that there are more workers than mere consumers! In Africa, Zambia included, we have far more children than adults, thus more consumers! Children in the west live a life of fun, when Africans go there to experience the fun,

  14. they find themselves struggling! Its not about the nice infrastructure and lights, its about whether you can afford. How can we afford and improve our lives with an average of 6 children for a mere civil servant earning peanuts? Think twice, we have to break the taboo of not discussing child bearing, it is the biggest cause of street children! A country not very far away which is doing very fine, also have a very low birht rate, Botswana. The govt even can afford to give tinned beef and UHT milk to all primary school children at school! Lets not stop marrying early but also reduce family sizes regardless of whether we can afford them or not, its a good principle!

  15. The reason for these early marriages is the the MMD governement where Chipungu belongs does not show the future holds something for those teenagers. For example how many social development projects are in the affected areas?The same teenagers and their parents have seen or head their educated relations or friends languishing in the streets of some town in Zambia, hence their loss in the education sytem;besides you ask them to pay something. The answer does not lie in Chipungu issuing unnecessary warnings , but in finding solutions. Take developement to the areas and the youths will be occupied and will rediscover their value for now and the future.

  16. #5 I feel so sori for Belita who never enjojed anything during her ealy stages of life and contnued her bitter lifestyle in this forced marrige. But the Grandpa is to blame for such an act. Measures to have him locked-up need to be taken kabili umulandu taubola.That man who married Belita should be guit for the rest of his life for being brutal on the small girl and also for defiling a minor.

  17. i applaud the miniter for his intiative and i hope the requested information of the names of these children will be forwarded to the provincial office. it is such proactive mentally that will save Zambia as a country from addopting such kind of bruital behaviour as an escape goat from poverty. its high time now that we move towards a positive approach to problem resolution. its pointless criticising and yet not coming up with a soltuon. so if you dont have a solution then just dont say anything or rather assist in passing on the positive ideas brought forward. remember a postive nation can conquer anything.

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