Glaring policy gaps expose girls to early marriages

By Whyghtone Kapasule and Tiwonge Ndau

The entire Nimbire Village in Traditional  Authority (T/A) Mlomba in Machinga wake up on Monday morning, 12 August, 2019 to the sad news that Amidu Frank, 19, has eloped a 13 year old girl, Khadija Yusufu (not her real name) to Blantyre City.

Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Welfare Child Protection team in Machinga District reported the issue to T/A Mlomba who, together with chief Chibondo, informed the incident to Machinga Police Station.

“This happened just after our efforts to withdraw the girl from the marriage which was blessed the girl’s mother Abiti Khadija, proved futile” says Annie Gabriel, Machinga Child Protection Officer.

This saga according to Gabriel, tore the family apart as the girl’s father, Frank Sibu, frowned on the marriage of the girl in that fragile age, while the mother approved it.

“I visited the parents and underscored the need for them to talk sense to their child so that she should withdrawal from the marriage and continue with her studies.

“However, the mother verbally abused me. I knew she wouldn’t understand me and I proceeded to Traditional Authority Mlomba and Chief Chibondo so that they can intervene. Rightly so, they reported to police but weeks elapsed without police action.

It was this indecisiveness on the part of the police that gave the two chances to strategise and leave the village for Blantyre City.

Away at a distance of about 550 kms from Machinga, Martin Tembo and his wife Eliteke Kanyasko of Efelanja Village in T/A Mthwalo in Mzimba were struggling with the same case on 5 August, 2019. Their 13 year old daughter, Ireen (not real name) did not sleep in their house the previous night and she was nowhere to be seen through that day.

A rigorous search sent them to utter paralysis as the discovery was too much to bear. Their little girl had married a 20 year old man in a neighboring village of Chisangano in that flip of the two days she went missing. They immediately reported the matter to Ekwendeni Police Unit.

The following day, police went to Chisangano village and arrested the 13 year old girl, Ireen and her husband Timoteo Zgambo. The two spent a night in a cooler and the following day they were released and were told to separate ways as the girl was very young to be married.

Alas! That gesture was a little too late. Little did they know that lreen had been part-taking of the forbidden fruit for some time and that Timoteo had planted his seed in her womb. This discovery added salt to the injury of the two parents. But the quest to have their 13 year daughter get educated compelled them to refuse send her into marriage threatening that any plans to marry the minor will attract the police wrath.

Senior Chief Kachindamoto - policies need be strengthened to protect girl child from responsibilities of marriage

“Inspite of all this, Timoteo went ahead and married our daughter. Ireen went straight to Timoteos house after being released in police custody. Till now, we do not know how to go about this whole issue,” narrates Tembo.

“As   am talking to you now, my daughter is still at Timoteos house, still married and expecting a child in that fragile age. As a mother, I cry for my child because she is still very young for the responsibilities of marriage and later alone pangs of pregnancy.

The setting for the two stories may be different but their misfortunes and implications are the same. This phenomenon is a thorn in the global fight against girl child marriages.

Although the 2017 constitutional amendment raised the marriage age to 18 for both girls and boys and was lauded as a significant milestone, child marriages persist in the country.

It is not surprising therefore that statistics by World Vision Malawi released in August 2019 on Child Marriages paint a gloomy picture as 42 percent of young girls in Malawi get married before reaching 18 years of age annually, while the new Marriage Law barks toothless from a distance.

All this is happening when Malawi is one of the 20 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa which committed to ending girl child marriages by the year 2020 under the Ministerial Commitment on Comprehensive Sexuality, Education and Sexual Reproductive Health Services for Adolescents.

For Paramount Chief Kyungu of Karonga, there are no two ways to go about this problem. He said the fight against girl child marriages can be won if policies are rescanned and intensified.

“I have been championing against girl child marriages for 4 years now and I have concluded that much work need be done on the grassroots.

“Government and all stakeholders need to put an extra gear in changing chief’s mindset on girl child marriages as well as the parents and the children themselves.”

However, T/A Mlomba of Machinga blames the persistent problem of girl child marriages to the conduct of police towards the issue.

“Here in Machinga the police are not helping us at all. Each time we report such cases to them they ignore us. This renders our efforts to root this problem, futile,” laments Mlomba.

She squarely blames the elopement of Khadija Yusufu to police indecision.

“We need government to devise guiding policies on how the police and courts should handle girl child marriages’ cases. They need to know that such cases require swift action in order to save the gild child,” said Mlomba.

Inkosi Gomani V of Ntcheu, the World Vision Ambassador for end child marriages advised the police not to grant bail to perpetrators of girl child marriages.

He told journalists in one of World Vision functions on child marriages in Ntcheu that traditional leaders need to compliment the police role in the fight against girl child marriages arguing:

“We need to develop a policy that should dethrone all chiefs that overlook young girls as they get married willy-nilly”.  

However, National Police Public Relations Officer (PRO), James Kadadzera refuses to take the punches from the chiefs. In his observation, the courts are to blame for granting bail to perpetrators of girl child marriages.

 “The police we do not give police bail to anyone suspected of defiling a minor. We treat girl child marriages as defilement such that no bail can be granted by the police. If the country sees that we are not winning this fight, let us hold hands to revisit the policies where possible other than pointing fingers at us,” he said.

Sharing his perspective on the matter, Beautify Malawi Trust chairperson Sunduzwayo Jere refuses to hip the blame head on the police but rather the policies.

“Our policies on girl child marriages are weak hence the need for the country to re-energize and come up with policies that are very strong so that girl child marriages should be dealt with decisively in the country,” Madise said.

Traditional Authority Kachindamoto of Ntcheu who is also a champion for girl child education in the country supported the idea of strengthening the laws altogether.

She gave an example of her community that formulated strong by laws on girl child marriages that have helped save her community from the vice.

In their 2018 Child Marriage Fact Sheet, UNICEF Malawi observes that policies need be articulated well in the guiding framework against girl child marriages so that all stakeholders adjust their roles as well.

“We have, in collaboration with PLAN International and Ujamaa Pamodzi, introduced some reflection action circles in various villages targeting girls that dropped out of school for various reasons so that they are counseled and return to school.

UNICEF said this project has been very successful as more than 28 girls have gone back to school with some being withdrawn from early marriages.

Plan International suggested the need to realign the National Constitution so that it addresses the problem of girl child marriages, the initiative it started from 2016 to date, with various stakeholders.

Girls Not Brides Malawi laments the path that the Country has taken observing it risks the country failing to eradicate early and forced marriages by 2030 and meet Goal 5.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) which compels countries to eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage; and female genital mutilations.

Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Welfare said it has uplifted itself towards the fight against girl child marriages and it hopes law makers will support the cause and pass relevant framework to protect the girl child.

Until this is realised, girl child marriages will continue scourging the country and the attainment of the United Nations’ SDG Goal 5.3 will remain a far-fetched dream.