Child marriages cases on rise in Lavushimanda District

Lavushimanda, January 15, 2025. Lavushimanda District in Muchinga Province has been captured among the districts which are still struggling with high cases of child marriages in the country.

This came to light yesterday when Chief Child Development Officer at the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services Lackson Chipampa addressed the child protection committee to get firsthand information on what is leading to cases of child marriages.

Mr Chipampa explained that the office of the Minister of Community Development and Social Services, Doreen Mwamba has been receiving reports of child marriages being on the rise where Eastern Province is ranked number one while other cases are from Northern and Muchinga Provinces.

Mr Chipampa said this prompted the Minister to come up with a programme of visiting the districts in the mentioned provinces to get firsthand information on what is causing child marriages to get firsthand information on what is leading to the cases to see where the problem is and find a solution.

“The Minister of Community Development and Social Services would have loved to be here because her office has been receiving reports of cases of child marriages and Lavushimanda was picked among the districts,” he said.

Mr Chipampa said marrying off a girl under the age of 18 is a criminal offence according to the child protection code and urged stakeholders in the fight against child marriages to be proactive and pass on the message to the community in order to assist curb the vice.

During the same meeting, Lavushimanda District Administrative Officer (DAO) Maurice Kabanda noted that more needs to be done to curb child marriages in the district, which is rural based.

He also revealed that most girls that are being supported by the Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED) are the ones mostly reported to be dropping out of school to get married.

“I’m reliably informed that most of our girls dropping out of school to get married are those being supported by CAMFED and we are here to learn why this is the case,” he said.

And one of the teachers at Mununga Primary School, Moless Simwaba confirmed that the reports were true that girls under the support have been mostly dropping out of school because the support making them look attractive to boys among their friends.

Meanwhile, Dr Peter Chawama from Mpumba Mini-Hospital noted that most pregnant cases being recorded at the facility are from girls aged 13 to 19, which is worrying.

Dr Chawama suggested that there is need to engage traditional leaders such as the headmen in the fight against child marriages because girls in the communities have great respect for their leaders.

“We are serving a community who have greater respect for traditional leaders so I’m thinking we must involve them in this fight because at our facility, most pregnant girls are young from the age of 13 to 19,” he said.

And Pastors Fellowship Chairperson Theo Chirwa suggested the need for girls under the re-entry policy to be isolated from other girls because most of them feel shy to learn with young ones after having a child or getting married.

The Child protection committee in Lavushimanda discussed some of the factors leading to child marriages such as poverty, peer pressure and lack of interest in education among other factors.