. LUNGU

By JAMES KUNDA and CHILA NAMAIKO –
A ROBUST Government programme is in place to enable the country record progress in ending child marriage, President Edgar Lungu has said.
The Head of State has since challenged his fellow African leaders to spearhead practices that offer alternative livelihoods to young people prone to challenges resulting in and arising from child marriage.
President Lungu said the country had developed a five- year national strategy on ending child marriage, which was launched last year to accelerate national efforts to ending the scourge by the year 2030.
Mr Lungu said incidences of child marriage in Zambia had reduced from 42 per cent to 31 per cent between 2007 and 2016, due to the administrative and legislative policies the Government had put in place to eradicate the scourge.
“One of the key issues in fighting child marriage is the provision of education and, to this end, my Government provided resources to ensure that 14,000 girls were put in school in 2016 and retained until they complete their secondary education,” President Lungu said.
Mr Lungu said 75,000 women would be empowered to be economically viable and sustainable to enable the women to pay for a girl-child and a boy-child who was “vulnerable” at household level.
The President was speaking in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, yesterday where he addressed a high-level event on the implementation of the African common position on ending child marriage on the continent.
The event was held on the sidelines of the just-ended African Union (AU) Heads of State and Government Summit in the Ethiopian capital.
Mr Lungu said various committees had been instituted in the chiefdoms to deal with early, forced and child marriages, including other gender-based violence issues.
This, the President said, was in a bid to strengthen multi-sectoral responses to reduce the vulnerability of children to marriage.
President Lungu said the empowerment of, and investment in women and girls, as well as their full participation in decisions that affected them, was a key factor in eliminating child marriage and breaking the cycle of gender inequality and discrimination, violence and poverty.
The Head of State said Africa should unite in developing social and economic policies to promote best practices favouring the rights and welfare of children, adolescents and the youth.
Mr Lungu thanked his counterparts present during the indaba and cooperating partners for helping Zambia and the continent address child marriages, stressing that his country was ready to foster bilateral and multilateral partnerships to eliminate the scourge by 2030.
Meanwhile, President Lungu returned from Ethiopia last evening, describing the summit as a worthwhile event and that Zambia was ably represented through him.
The President said he was happy that the country’s efforts to attain the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) were recognised at the level of the AU Summit.
The Head of State also said he was happy that a Zambian, Albert Muchanga, was elected as AU commissioner for Trade and Industry. He was welcomed by Vice-President Inonge Wina, some Cabinet ministers, defence chiefs and senior party officials.