MINISTER of Gender Nkandu Luo has said Government will soon table the Marriage and Child Code bills before Parliament in a bid to, among other measures, effectively address early marriages in the country.
Professor Luo told Parliament on Tuesday that the bills will also help address the challenges arising from dual marriage laws, namely customary and statutory.
She said in a ministerial statement on the first-ever girl child summit held in Zambia recently that the Child Code Bill will particularly help address the definition of a child.
The summit, which was held in November 2015, and graced by President Lungu, attracted 1,100 delegates from across Africa.
Prof Luo said this is because a child is defined differently in different circles, including at the instances of obtaining national documents such as the green national registration cards, drivers’ licences and voters’ cards, among others.
“This bill will address the definition of who a child is and it has since been passed to the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Child Development,” Prof Luo said.
And Prof Luo said most African countries are learning from Zambia about best practices in fighting early marriages because the country has devised a multi-sectoral approach with various stakeholders involved in fighting the vice.
She said 11 ministries have come together and that traditional and church leaders have also been mobilised to help lead the fight against child marriages countrywide.
This was after a question by Chongwe Member of Parliament Sylvia Masebo (PF), who wanted to find out the best practices being used in Zambia to fight the vice.
“The main objective of the summit was to share experiences, good practices and challenges on ending child marriages at country, regional, continental and international levels particularly from countries that have already launched the African Union Campaign on Ending Child Marriage in Africa.
“The summit was also structured to secure and renew commitments from stakeholders notably governments, to invest more on ending child marriages in their respective countries,” said Prof Luo.
The bill is good but a married person will better understand the institution of marriage not this Tasinta Luo
Shallow reasoning typical of shortminded people that tend to be subjective and not objective. Why bring in personalities here ? Do you have a successful marriage yourself ?
@Fat frog the truth hurts but we have to learn to live with it if you don’t then you will think life will always be cruel to you
Why only emphasis on early marriages of girls. Even fina mayo ifikulu filemyangula sana utulumendo.
Why do we accuse any woman in position of power of pros titution? This sexism among Zambians is pathetic to say the least. A woman says something, she is judged by how she looks, she is accused of being a tasinta etc. Let us grow up!
People that reason like you “Saka”are usually those that were born out of wedlock and never grew up to know their father. Grow up for once dick head.
So what’s the relevance of your comment to the issue at hand?
thats good idea bt do u implement what u ve saying?
@ Saka. Nkandu Luo is a professor and expect when it comes to intellectual stamina and intelligence. Therefore stop exposing by your grade 12 ignorance in public.
LT should bam Grade 9s from logging on
LT, at least summarize the bill for your readers so that they too can form an opinion. Do not just tell us that the minister will table the bill in parliament, so what? Get your readership involved in the affairs of the nation. Now that is what a schooled editor will do!
I feel the bill should be precise and to the point.It should not be bulky such that our MPs will find it too hard to read it like the case of a national constitution.Our law makers have deficiency in reading issues which are bulky.Furthermore,let the bill cover also areas to do with female genital mutilation.It should be criminalized because it deprives women of their dignity.Watching documentaries from West Africa,one would thing women are like modern slave due to this barbaric practice.Before it become a common practice in Zambia,a law has to come in to protect a girl child.The bill should not just concentrate on early marriages for a girl child but also the aforementioned evil practice.
I support the idea that people with working marriages should be telling us what key things should be in the Bill.
We can’t learn from people whose marriages have failed, unless their chapter is clearly labelled “what not to do in marriages”. In their paragraph, they should recite exactly what they did for their relationships to crumble. This obviously excludes widows and widowers.
Then no one should say anything about marriage among Tongas becoz their marriages leav much to desire. luo burried her husband last year. she is not like you Tongas that turn women into sex slaves, farm labourers or animals
..I was expecting details of the bill so as to debate on the con and pro
Apuu Inoosha, singe Luo kusi kwesa manako ki komu ya fula mutaka! And I agree with the first post, Luo is a gutless whore who preys on younger men to quench her insatiable groinery “sansamcation”. She had one failed marriage and a whole Tazara rail line long record of wrecking marriages, its hard to see how such a wrech can lecture anyone about the institution of marriage. No wonder “BashiluBemba” had this to say about her, and quote: “Katwishi uyu namayo eo beeta ati Nkandu Luo nga bunangwa bwa musango nshi akwete mu chilukobo chakwe”.
You can enact as many laws on early marriages but as long as the root causes are not addressed such as poverty and access to education this will prove futile. Our fore fathers used to get married very early in life but because the social and economic set ups in the villages were firm and supportive, their marriages thrived and produced health and successful children. Address the underlying factors or our prisons will be full of basebele.
Good move prof. Luo. We need to integrate the two types of marriage
All early marriages must be condemned but the preacher of this message is not clean to say the least. is number one in defiling small boys. look for your size.
Amendment or repeal of an existing statute is only justified (i) in the presence of a problem so daunting that society and the state deem it necessary to invoke opinio juris on the matter, (ii) if there are pressing social or international issues such as, in the case of the marriage Act, homosexuality, estate administration, abuse of human rights, land ownership, that have to be incorporated. Can anyone kindly shade more light as to which one of the two categories of reasons justifies the bill, and its eventual assent into law? I might be missing something here.
that is sign that poverty levels are high. make good polies for common good. only mwanawasa and KK were real the rest are drawbacks?.
Which Mwanawasa are you referring to? Get your facts right
Just legalise polygamy our wemen are starving here in zambia. Kenya did it