Thu, 21 Sep 2017 13:54:49 +0000
By Nambela Mwandia
ABOUT 14 girls have been rescued from child marriages in Southern Province this year by (MCMZ).
MCMZ director Sibbuku Genious Musokotwane said in Choma that MCMZ was working in line with its mandate to help reduce poverty levels in rural parts of Zambia by way of stopping child marriages.
“President Lungu’s speech in Parliament on Friday September 15 is a clear indication that poverty is a major threat to curbing child marriages in rural Zambian communities,” he said.
He said so far the government had social cash transfer offices operating in rural areas that were assisting families with basic needs and services.
Mr Musokotwane said with the help of Chief Cooma of Choma his organisation had withdrawn 3 girls aged between 16 and 18 years old from child marriages and put them back in schools.
Mr Musokotwane said that at the annual board meeting held last December MCMZ remained with 10 girls to be withdrawn from child marriages out of the reported 24.
“It is clear that the current poverty levels among rural Zambian communities pose a great threat to Zambia in achieving its zero child marriage status by 2030 as highlighted in the Presidential address to parliament,” he said.
There was need for the realisation that impoverished families in most rural areas had married off their children because they lived in abject poverty that left the girl child with little or no option but to get married.
“We must further note that even those we withdraw from child marriages if there are no measures that bridge the poverty gaps in their livelihoods, we risk these girls bouncing back to child marriages sooner than we rescue them. We must declare war against poverty or allow it ruin our efforts on ending child marriages,” he said.
Mr Musokotwane further commended government’s commitment to addressing the livelihood of vulnerable groups in Zambia that include orphans, females and child headed households, different abled persons, older persons through its robust economic strategies outlined to combat poverty levels in Zambia.
