The Young Men Christian Association (YMCA) Zambia says the breakdown in cultural values in the country is causing the increase in reported cases of spousal murders among married couples.
YMCA Zambia Executive Director Annie Ngwira told ZANIS in an interview that a lot of young couples go into marriage without extensive counselling to prepare them for marriage and manage their expectations, which she said leads to misunderstandings and in some unfortunate cases murder.
Ms. Ngwira added that financial misunderstandings, coupled with other factors such as drug and alcohol abuse and mental health issues are contributing to the rise in spousal murders among most couples.
She advised people intending to go into marriage to undergo extensive marriage counselling and take time to learn and understand the family backgrounds of their would-be partners to avoid getting married to strangers.
And Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia Executive Director Andrew Mwenda bemoaned the increase in reported cases of spousal murder, stating that the church needs to act by being more involved with the affairs of the communities and the families and not be restricted to the pulpit.
Bishop Mwenda said uncontrolled anger and inadequate preparation for marriage is leading to the increase in marital disputes and that the church needs to engage more with married couples by including marital teachings in church as well as create a platform for married couples to express themselves to church leaders and to their peers.
Increased reports of married people being murdered by their partners have been received by police from various parts of the country with 35 Gender Based Violence GBV related murders reported for the first quarter of 2023.
IF the church consentrated on family values and not politics
family violence would reduce
Modernity says a woman is equal to Man. But culture tells as she must submit to her Man. A modern woman can even refuse her husband the bedroom fruit and report him to VSU if he insists. Those are causes of spousal conflicts, not culture. Don’t import culture, maintain culture. There is no Gender in marriage. Gender must be at workplaces not homes.
These are just excuses. Wives and husbands have always killed each other.