Senior Chief Nkula of the Bemba people in Chinsali district has pledged to protect women and girls from all forms of gender based violence (GBV).
Senior chief Nkula said violence does not promote peace but deter development, noting that no meaningful dialogue can come out of disputes.
The traditional leader was speaking at his palace in Chinsali yesterday during the official launch of 16 days Activism against Gender Based Violence (GBV).
“I will not allow any form of GBV in my chiefdom, be it in urban or rural areas because it is detrimental to development,” he said.
The chief has since come up with traditional rules that have been attached to the allocation of land which every subject in his chiefdom has to read, understand and sign as consent to follow afterwards.
He said failure to abide by the rules will warrant the repossession of land.
Some of the rules are no wife battering, no early marriage and sharing of finances equally between spouses.
And Chinsali District Commissioner, Samson Muchemwa, said GBV has contributed to a number of deaths.
Mr Muchemwa said some of GBV cases go unreported due to fear of families breaking up.
He has since appealed to headmen, chairpersons and spouses to support the programme of Keeping Girls in School (KGS).
The Chinsali District Commissioner further said the government is committed to ensuring that girls receive quality education so that they too can contribute to the development of the country.
“Government will continue sensitising the community until social behaviuor is changed towards women and girls,” he said.
Mr Muchemwa also urged all Chinsali residents to take part in ending violence against women and girls irrespective of their area and location.
Speaking earlier, GBV Coordinator for Chief Nkulas’ Chiefdom, Grey Ngulube, said the area is experiencing a lot of physical violence between spouses.
Mr Ngulube said the type of GBV experienced is as a result of failure to provide necessities by the male folk.
The theme for this year’s 16 days of gender activism is “unite! activism to end violence against women and girls”.
That’s the only problem with traditional laws. Most of the time the punishment doesn’t fit the crime. The house of chiefs should meet with LAZ and standardise or clean up most customary law to bring it in line with our constitution. We have all been thinking customary law will transform by itself. No! Just like we sat down to remove the colonialists we need to sit down and transform traditional laws.