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Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security Anna Kachikho has advised women in the country not to take the Prevention of Domestic Violence Bill passed last week in Parliament as a tool for destroying their marriages saying the Bill, in fact, seeks to strengthen the marriage institution.
The minister gave the advice at Maula Cathedral in Lilongwe when she presided over a ceremony organised by members of the Lilongwe Catholic Women Organisation (CWO) to raise funds to carry out various projects.
The function realised K86,800 out of which K20,000 was donated by the minister.
“The Bill we have just passed in Parliament should not cause our marriages to break but it should protect the families,” said Kachikho.
Kachikho added that some women are also in the forefront committing violence against their husbands.
“In the family where there is violence there is no peace. And where there is no peace people cannot pray and people surrounding us will also have no peace. In the end the whole nation will have no peace,” said Kachikho who was accompanied by Mary Shawa, Principal Secretary responsible for HIV/Aids and nutrition in the Ministry of Health.
The Bill defines domestic violence as any criminal offence arising out of physical, sexual, emotional or psychological, social, economic or financial abuse committed by a person against another person within the domestic relationship. The minister further advised women that a woman’s beauty is not just in the body outlook or dressing but also from the heart.
She asked women to take the example of the family of Abraham and Sarah who gave great respect to each other to the extent of Sarah calling Abraham ‘my lord’.
“Let us be the ‘Sarah’ of today and take our husbands as ‘Abrahams’,” said Kachikho, a Roman Catholic herself.
She added that both government and the church do not condone domestic violence.
Lilongwe Diocese CWO Chairperson Susan Chikaunda, who described Kachikho as one of the role models for Catholic women, thanked the minister for coming to grace the fundraising ceremony.
Chikaunda said Lilongwe Diocese women had a vision to build their own Catholic Women Organisation Centre in seven years.
She said her organisation has already done two projects, an office and a women’s magazine called Today’s Woman.
The two will be launched this month.
During the fundraising event the women, who came from 13 parishes of Mtima Woyera and Maula Deaneries in the diocese, also learnt tips on how to detect cancer.
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