Gender and Child Development Minister Nkandu Luo says government has made tremendous progress towards efforts to revise the Marriage Act in order to protect young girls from being married off at a tender age.
Professor Luo says government has seen the need to reinforce the marriage Law in view of the increasing number of child marriages in the country.
She states that government attaches great importance to safeguarding the lives of children in the country.
Professor Luo says government through her ministry has engaged various stakeholders to help come up with concrete suggestions that will be included in the revised law.
She states that once all the suggestions have been critically looked at, her ministry will then proceed to present the bill to Parliament in the shortest period of time.
Professor Luo has since appealed to stakeholders to support government efforts in ending child marriages in the country.
Also look at ways of eradicating poverty and empowering poor families. Girl child initiatives in place.
Root causes….. umushila as Mwine Mushi would say.
Gay marriage is knocking because of debt from europe and usa.
Enforcement is the real issue. But this is a good step.
This should be followed up by educating people why this practise is wrong.
So what age is deemed the right age to get married? 15? 18?
Lowest age or legal age, I think is 18.
Bamukaika ten kwacha Yeeeeeeees. Liwishi la sumina ati ndefwayakulilapo…… bottom line, we need education especially on these hypersekysho girls. It is shameful to see how these tu ma girls have ‘invaded’ older men at some boarding houses around the country.
no more “spring chicken”
Find the root cause before you come up with ‘solutions’ -poverty is number one,empower the girl- child through quality education. Then engage bana chimbusa about the age limit. Lower it to 14 to avoid headache. These girls nowadays ..kaya
I might say a lot about our leaders, but being Christian I shall hold my tongue. Before I insult someone.
I agree with some bloggers here. e.g. @Pretty and @Chatasha have hit the nail on the head on step Number ONE in finding a solution. FIND THE ROOT CAUSE.
A proper research based on facts and figures should be done. For Prof Luo this should be well within her capacity. She should do it well and professionally with the assistance of UNESCO. Anything short of this will be speculation. And speculation is the mother of all cock-ups. Some will speculate poverty, only to find later it has its roots in our African tradition. Some will speculate tradition only to find later it has its roots in the belief that the only way to protect young adults from HIV and Aids is to marry them as young soon as they enter adulthood. Some will speculate HIV and Aids, only to find later the father, so called …
Cont’d …. so called head of the family, is actually an !d!ot, and all he wanted is the money from the bride price.
So, ba Prof Luo, you owe it to your Country to sit down with UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon if you have to. Remember, for those whom much has been given, your education and experience included, much shall be expected. You have no excuse.
Revising and Act of Marriage without understanding the root cause is a waste of time and meager resources. What legacy do you want to leave behind?
Has this minister passed through independece avenue? SDA robots especially after 18hrs and in the mornings? There are girls that are found there always looking drunk and sick. She should start from there if she wants some of us to take her seriously.
I stand to be corrected… But to the best of my knowledge, in Zambia the age of consent is 16 years old, while the age at which one can legally contract marriage is 18. Somehow we have failed to implement this, that’s why girls are being married off at the age of 14 and so on. Seems to me that our problem is implementation not lack of laws.
So, whether the marriage act needs revision is one thing. More importantly, how are we going to implement the laws!!!!
Zambia follows a dual legal system: Customary law and Statute law. The age limit you are talking about is according to Statutory law. The age for marrying a girl according to Customary law is abilility to handle the man especially in bed. this is why there is marrying soon after awa icisungu.
@Ulubunda
Thanks for the clarification
Bambi bai twala fye abene kufyupo!!! FIND YOUNG GIRLES’ AND LADIES’ SECRETE CONVERSATIONS..YOU YOU WILL BE SURPRISED, ALL THEY TALK ABOUT ARE LOVE AFFAIRS NA VIKWATI NO KUFYALA!!! SOME OF THEM THEY FEEL GOOD THINK THAT WHEN THEY GET PREGNANT BCOZ THEY THINK THAT NINSHI BAUPWA??