LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-The much awaited Tithetse Nkhanza community practiced was on Monday in a bid to drive the fight against Gender Based Violence.
The six year drive campaign is expected to coordinate all activities various institutions are advancing to end GBV in the country.
The program is a mechanism where different stakeholders come together and get into processes of knowledge consolidation, sharing and research.
This comes amid reports that most perpetrators of rape are not being held accountable.
Ombudsman Martha Chizuma disclosed Malawi is still straggling to put into practice legal frameworks related to gender based violence which gives a chance for perpetrators of rape to get away.
Chizuma noted that some of the perpetrators who are behind bars for the offences of rape are minors who don’t deserve to be rotting in jail while the main suspects are walking freely.
She added that it looks like dynamics are changing as such there is a need to be smarter when dealing with gender based violence.
“The issue is not changing our laws, policies, structures but it’s rather bringing together stakeholders such as government, organizations and stick to the agreed objectives because the cases of gender based violence are being conducted due to impunity because no one is held accountable more especially men. Poverty is also another factor that is contributing to the increase of these cases,” she explained.
Team Leader for Tithetse Nkhanza program Grace Tikambenji Malera said the implementation of the program will assist in the fight against GBV.
Malera, however urged Malawian girls and women to avoid normalizing violence’s that they are facing in their families but to report to structures like police, organizations and court and put to an end issues of violence.
Malawi set aside 16 days of activism against gender based violence from 25 November to 10 December yearly.
Despite efforts to end the vice, cases of rape, defilement and sexual assault remain high in Malawi
