From places sandwiched in some remote corner of Malawi to cities, the spectacle of children, some as young as seven years, sneaking into video showrooms instead of being in primary school is common in Malawi. And, while some citizens have come to regard the drift as normal, some traditional leaders are taking a hardline on the issue. As BLESSINGS TAMBALA writes, Group Village Head (GVH) Nselema of Machinga District is one of such opinion leaders.
It is hard to make GVH Nselema angry, let alone make him lose control of his emotions and prompt him to express anger in public.
Unless, of course, the issue relates to the behaviour of children who forsake school for video showrooms as well as parents and guardians who see the children take that route and do nothing about it.
Nselema admits that he cannot help it but openly get angry when he finds children of school-going age in video showrooms.
“We want our children to be in school and not in video showrooms. As such, you can understand my levels of anger whenever I see children in these video showrooms,” the traditional leader pointed out.
And he is not one of the people who speak about an issue and do nothing about it.
Nselema is fast becoming one of Malawi’s action chiefs.
To this end, he led community members in formulating bylaws that would enable stakeholders to smoke children out of showrooms.
He took this action after observing that most of those who were finding their way into video showrooms were boys and girls aged between seven and 13 years.
Such children could converge in showrooms that have mushroomed at Nselema Trading Centre and other places where people converge for this or that business.
Now the efforts are bearing fruit.
“To date, a total of 32 children aged between seven and 13 have been removed from video showrooms and streets around Nselema Trading Centre in the Southern Region district,” he said of the initiative that has seen community members coming together to fight a common enemy.
For instance, a group of youth advocates under Power to Youth Programme, community policing members and others have put their hands to the wheel on the issue, ensuring that they combine words with action by showing children crammed in video showrooms the direction to primary school.
To buttress their sense of seriousness, Nselema facilitated the making of by-laws that were constituted in consultation with Senior Chief Kapoloma.
“As such, minors are not allowed entry into video showrooms. It is not just about ensuring that they are in school; we also discovered that our children were adopting bad behaviours after getting exposed to materials that are not suitable for their age.
“We now conduct exercises aimed at removing children from video showrooms because we want children that visit video showrooms to be in class instead,” the chief said.
Meanwhile, one of the youth advocates, Cassin James, has said they were shocked by the alarming number of children who used to patronise video showrooms during school time.
“We, as youths, thought it wise to work hand-in-hand with our local leaders in making sure that no child is being found in video showrooms or selling merchandise during class time. We will be apprehending the children and imposing fines on their parents and guardians,” James said.
However, the proliferation of minors in video showrooms is not a problem unique to Machinga District.
In Blantyre District, the presence of children in such places has prompted Senior Chief Kapeni and others to take drastic action.
Recently, when he attended a meeting that attracted court user committee members, traditional leaders, community and faith leaders, Malawi Police Service agents, parents and guardians and youths representatives, Kapeni claimed that some boys and girls have been caught indulging in risky behaviour after visiting video showrooms and watching films with indecent content.
In 2020, the Censorship Board lamented the effects of school closure on children in the country.
At that time, the Covid pandemic was at its peak, prompting the government to close schools as one of the coronavirus preventative measures.
At that time, the board’s cultural standards officer, Anganire Nthakomwa, decried the number of children that were flocking to video showrooms, claiming that, while there, they were being exposed to explicit content.
She made the sentiments during a meeting with Mchinji District Council stakeholders that are working in the area of child protection.
At the meeting, board officials sensitised Mchinji stakeholders to issues that could harm children, one of which being films.
Recently, Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare Minister Jean Sendeza said the government was committed to safeguarding the interests of children in the country.
She added that since they are regarded as leaders-in-waiting, children have to grow up in a conducive environment so that they can fulfil their full potential.
“We will, therefore, continue protecting children’s rights and ensuring that they are growing up in a favourable environment,” she said.
Meanwhile, People’s Federation for National Peace and Development Executive Director Edward Chaka has urged parliamentarians to do all they can to protect children.
“This can be done by coming up with requisite laws so that child protection efforts should not be premised on bylaws initiated by traditional leaders alone.
“I can see a situation where, at one point, someone will challenge the validity of bylaws instituted by traditional leaders in a court of law. To avoid such a scenario, there is a need to come up with national laws that guide the management of, say, video showrooms,” Chaka said.
That means, somehow, video showrooms are a ticking bomb that, if not defused, could explode right before our own eyes— a situation no sane person fancies.
Time for action is, surely, now.
