A group of youth drawn from all districts across the country presented a petition to the ministries of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and Gender, Children and Social Welfare to advocate for a complete removal of a provision in the Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Act which grants parents the right to give consent when their child wants to get married.
Speaking after receiving the petition, Justice Minister, Samuel Tembenu, pledged his support to the cause and encouraged them to lobby for more support from concerned stakeholders, including lawmakers.
“Doing away with the parental consent on this issue is what we have also wanted to do, but we can’t do it alone and, as you know, there is no shortcut in changing the law and issues like these would require a referendum if done in an unsatisfactory manner.
“This is why we rely on people like these to do a lot of advocacy, but I must say that the law is already on the positive side and it is incumbent upon the girl to whether or not to get married. In essence what it means is that the law is not obliging or forcing girls to get married at 15, but rather if they want to do so at that age, they should seek the consent from parents or guardians,” said Tembenu.
Plan Malawi, in partnership with a grouping of young people under the banner Youth Engagement Advocates (YEA), is currently collecting one million signatures to form a firm stand in advocating for the amendment.
Speaking to The Daily Times on Wednesday, Advocacy and Communications Coordinator for Plan Malawi, Madalitso Mondiwa, said parents should not have decide on their girl child’s marriage, especially when the girl in question is under 18.
“All we are saying is that the provision on Section 22(7) of the Act is being hugely misunderstood and people, especially in the rural areas, think it gives parents the right to marry off their daughters at very tender ages,” she said.
Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Welfare, Mary Shawa, also pledged her ministry’s support and called on Plan Malawi and YEA to raise their signature target above one million.
“The country’s population is now hovering around 17 million and one million signatures would look too few. As we fight for this let us also push for the age to be raised to above 18 as is the case with our colleagues in Zambia where when somebody aged over 40 marries a girl under 18 they get jailed for ten years,” Shawa said.
Parents, especially in the rural areas of the country, arrange most marriages and under the republican constitution girls and boys aged between 15 and 18 may marry with parental consent.
The Constitution also does not specifically prohibit marriage of children under 15.
In 2015 Parliament passed the Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Act.
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