By Justinah Mukuka, Zambia's Post -  Thu 17 July 2014, 14:01 CAT   

HOUSE of chiefs' chairperson senior chieftainess Nkomeshya Mukamambo II has called on the government to urgently harmonise statutory and customary laws if escalating cases of early and forced marriages in Zambia are to be brought to an end.

Speaking during the recently held symposium to end child marriages in Lusaka, chieftainess Nkomeshya said the current laws were restricting traditional leaders from effectively dealing with cases of forced and early marriages that were rampant in their chiefdoms.
"What we as traditional leaders are asking the government to harmonise and if possible revise, is our Zambian laws because you will find that when you, as a traditional leader passes judgment in the traditional courts in cases involving child marriages, people will decide to take the matter to a higher court where our judgment on that matter is quashed," she said.

Nkomeshya emphasised the need for the government to clearly state its position on what roles traditional leaders, who were closer to the people in their chiefdoms, needed to play in dealing with such issues.

She also asked the government to clearly spell out what sort of protection traditional leaders were guaranteed in addressing early and forced marriages in their chiefdoms.

Nkomeshya added that cases of early and forced marriages would continue increasing, especially in rural areas and chiefdoms as long as the government did not harmonise statutory and customary laws to clearly spell out what roles traditional leaders needed to play in addressing such matters.