Malawi President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera on Friday answered questions from children as part of commemorations of World Children’s Day.
At a function held at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe, the Malawi leader answered as follows:
“Constitution is above all the laws and policies. When it was amended to declare the age of children as 18 not 16 it was done to let children continue with school “Whatever the penal code says, the constitution is above all the laws and we have to respect what the laws say ‘Our duty is to synchronise all our laws to speak to each other.
“What we have adopted as a nation in ratifying the 1991 UN Convention on Children’s rights will be respected and operationalised at every level”
ON DEFILEMENT AND RAPE
The president encouraged men to stop defiling and raping women, saying “this was not manly but satanic”.
He warned witch doctors not to cheat men that by sleeping with their children as ritual they will get rich “its stupidity. If such men are found they will be charged.
We want our children to continue school and our women be protected” he said.
ON HOW GOVERNMENT WAS GOING TO COMPENSATE ON LOST LEARNING TIME DUE TO
COVID-19
The Malawi leader said the pandemic had exposed systems as it had caught the world unprepared “Going forward, this pandemic has taught us to live differently,” he said.
The President also answered questions on sanitation and children’s participation in the
development of policies on issues that affect them.
The children were drawn from varying backgrounds, and districts, with some from districts’ children parliaments.
