By Deogratias Mmana:
Chief Justice Rizine Mzikamanda has said the country’s courts receive many divorce applications and that the Judiciary has always promoted mediation to save such marriages.
Mzikamanda’s comments come when, in April this year, media reports indicated that couples aged between 20 and 35 years have filed 90 percent of divorce petitions in court since 2020.
Mzikamanda said the country needs strong marriages because they play a critical role in the development of the country.
He was speaking on Saturday night during the launch of a book titled ‘From Vows to Victory: Overcoming Marital Challenges through Open Godly Conversations’, authored by Cornelius and Jacqueline Huwa.
“The Judiciary receives cases as they come but as we are looking at the cases, there is an option to go back and reconcile, mediate before you go into the final or the ultimate end of the marriage.
“We encourage the parties to go back and reconsider their positions so that we do not have too many marriages breaking up,” Mzikamanda said.
“In marriages, in families, let us have conversations. Let us not leave things undiscussed. If there are misunderstandings, let us talk about them. Let us dialogue. I think that is extremely important and that will build our marriages and build our nation,” Mzikamanda added.
He commended the authors for coming up with the book, which he described as rooted in scriptures and good for those on the journey to marriage.
“It is extremely important to have strong marriages because marriages are the foundation of the nation. When you have very strong marriages, you will bring up strong children and those strong children will be the people who will run the country,” he said.
Huwa said the book encourages couples to be talking to each other as one way of strengthening marriage and family ties.
“If you know, a problem cannot take itself out of the family. So, the reason we have written this book is to remind people that issues will always be there but take time to discuss them, have a conversation largely in a godly manner,” Huwa said.
He added that failure to talk to each other encourages the growth of preconceived ideas about one’s partner.
“When two people are not talking to each other, they carry something in their heart. That is what brings lots of problems in marriage, in workplaces and even in churches because people do not want to talk to one another.
“Another thing people do is that they avoid difficult conversations. For example, in the book, some of the things we have highlighted are sex, money, extended family. People do not want to talk about these but when you do, you will be able to understand each other and you can take the marriage forward,” Huwa said.
The 170-page book has cited eight cardinal areas which may help couples nurture their marriages. These include faith, physical intimacy, finances, children, career, extended family, friends and health issues.
Cornelius is the chief executive officer of African Enterprise Malawi and resident pastor of Citywide Revival Life Church while Jacqueline is research manager at the LightHouse Trust in Lilongwe.
Media reports last month indicated that divorce cases were on the rise, with 90 percent of petitions filed in Central Region courts in the past four years being from couples aged between 20 and 35 years.
According to the media reports, petitions have been rising at high speed since 2020, with 1,170 cases in 2021, 1522 cases in 2022 and 2,504 cases in 2022.
