By CHATULA KAMPO –
THE Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ) has opposed calls by Noble Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu to distribute contraceptives to teenagers in order to reduce teenage pregnancies in the country.
Anti-Apartheid champion and renowned human rights activist Bishop Tutu said last week that making contraceptives accessible to teenagers would help reduce the effects of sex among teenagers.
He said in response to a question on whether it was right to have different forms of contraceptives, including condoms, available to teenagers.
But EFZ executive director Pukuta Mwanza in an interview said that the clergy in Zambia was not for the idea of making contraceptives that included condoms accessible to teenagers.
He said such practice would promote immorality among the young people in the country.
“We the clergy in Zambia are not in support of Archbishop Tutu’s calls to make contraceptives such as condoms accessible to our teenagers. This will just promote immorality among the young generation,” he said.
Rev Mwanza said Zambia was a Christian Nation and hence the need to promote morality among the growing generation.
Archbishop Tutu stressed that some teenagers were sexually active and that they would still engage in sexual activities regardless the advice hence the need to encourage contraceptives.
Meanwhile, the Church mother body has called on perpetrators of Gender Based Violence (GBV) and would-be offenders not to take forgiveness for granted.
Last week, a 32-year-old woman of Pemba in Southern Province, Jackline Musho, reconciled with her husband, Richard Mufalo, a Police officer at Pemba Police Station, who allegedly assaulted her.
The same week, a Roma Girls’ Secondary School teacher, Daswell Sichilongo, was acquitted of assaulting the school’s head teacher, Emma Chakupalesa after the victim withdrew the case.
Rev Mwanza said forgiveness was an important act of mercy but that perpetrators of GBV should not take advantage of it.
He, however, called on all stakeholders to intensify sensitisation on GBV at all levels of society.