The proposed change of marriage age from the current 16 to 18 years has excited women and child rights activists who have since described it as a step in the right direction.
The development comes after Secretary for Gender Mary Shawa said on Friday at Liwonde in Machinga that the government was likely adhere to Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC) which sets 18 years as an age which one needs minimal protection.
“Since we ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child that defines marriage age as 18, we would live to implement the same.
“Currently, we are lobbying with other stakeholders so that they embrace the same,” Shawa told Malawi News Agency (Mana) at the end of a two-day workshop for chiefs and children in Liwonde.
She further said the Constitutional Amendment Bill, which attracted uproar in 2009 after Parliament revised marriage age to 16 years, only needs to change the age and adopt it after passing through due legal processes.
“We support this stand. We actually sent a letter to President Joyce Banda appealing to her for the enactment of laws that prohibit all forms of marriage for a person under the age of 18 years.
“We also issued an open letter in which we gave our position that agrees with the Principal Secretary on the proposed marriage age,” said Maxwell Matewere, Executive Director of Eye of the Child.
While welcoming the development, National Coordinator of Women and Law in Southern Africa Seodi White said the main stumbling block is that the current marriage age is in the Constitution.
“This is a welcome move of course but the only problem is that the current marriage age is enshrined in the country’s Constitution, under the Bill of Rights.
“Changing of this requires a referendum. But still, let’s see if we can change this provision as a recommendation and take it to Parliament for approval,” White said in an interview on Sunday.
In November last year, Gender and Child Development Minister Anita Kalinde said President Banda directed her Ministry and Ministry of Justice to ensure that the Bill goes to Parliament and have the current marriage age raised to either 18 or 21. – By Simeon Maganga
