RUKWA: POLICE in Rukwa Region have arrested 21 members of two families from Signee Village in Kalambo District for allegedly marrying off a 14-year-old girl to a boy aged 15 years.
Kalambo District Commissioner (DC) Mr Lazaro Komba told the ‘Daily News’, during an interview held on the sideline of the 42 Rukwa Regional Consultative Committee (RCC) meeting parents of both minors did not enroll their children to school, instead they decided to wed them.
Without mentioning their names he said the arrested people were matchmakers, parents, members of the both families who participated during issuance of dowry as well as individuals who witnessed the marriage.
He warned that parents or guardians who marry off their school-going daughters face prosecution and 30 year imprisonment.
He observed that there were people who thought the matter was a mere joke, insisting that the government would spare nobody over child marriages.
Mr Komba asked parents to say no to early marriages so that their children can concentrate on their education to fulfill their future dreams.
He said that it was time the law took its course to get rid of early marriages as well as dealing with early pregnancies.
“Communities should now change by shunning the common habit of negotiations between offenders and parents of the affected girls so that we can find the final and conclusive solution to the vice,” he said.
Mr Komba said parents who would marry off their children and those who will participate during issuance of dowry will be treated as parties to that offence, prosecuted at once and sent to jail immediately.
Mr Komba further asked schoolgirls in the precinct to be bold enough to say no to unwanted sexual attentions.
“I also want to remind school girls to concentrate on their studies so as to avoid temptations that are likely to land them into trouble and totally ruining their future.
