HON. DR. LABODE: There is no child Mr. Speaker Sir in Rwanda, below the age of 18 who shall be forced to be a mother. You sent us to Rwanda; me, Hon. Moyo and Hon. Mataruse to go and understudy this thing Mr. Speaker. Let us stop playing around, playing twiddling fingers, and it will not stop this thing…
THE HON. SPEAKER: What is your supplementary question Hon. Member?
HON. DR. LABODE: What the Minister is saying for me is not enough, it has failed. What else can we do as a nation? It is there. Why not go the Kagame way?
THE HON. SPEAKER: Hon. Labode, can you explain the Kagame way?
HON. DR. LABODE: When we visited Rwanda with the Chairperson of the Education Committee, Hon. T. Moyo and the Chairperson for Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Hon. Maranyika, we went to understand how Rwanda managed to review their Termination of the Pregnancy Act. We spoke to civil society, to media and to the Minister of Justice and Government, people and everything pointed to State House. They said we were galvanized by the President to move towards ensuring that no child who is supposed to be a child will be made a mother unless she so wishes. In consultation with the parents in Rwanda, if a child is pregnant at the age of nine years, doctors will ask both parents and the child what they want to do. If the parents say the pregnancy should be kept and the child says she does not want, Kagame says listen to the child because she is the one who is going to be affected by this thing forever. So, that is the Kagame Effect which has now become an international slogan. I thank you.
HON. RTD. GEN. DR. CHIWENGA: Mr. Speaker Sir, we have got the law. If it is a matter of rape or the child does not have the mental capacity, the pregnancy is terminated – it is there. Thirdly, the affected girl has got the right to say I want the pregnancy terminated.
We do not have to follow laws of other countries; laws are made in this august House. The proposal can be brought in here and discussed, ask the Ministry in charge for consultations and bring a Bill to amend. However, what I thought the Hon. Member could have raised was what is happening to the perpetrators. That matter is not being addressed and has not been addressed. We cannot address only to the victim and leave the perpetrators going scot free – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] – That is what we need to address in this issue and the way we can address is to bring in a Bill and it will be discussed. I thank you.
HON. MARKHAM: Hon. Speaker, my issue has been partly covered. However, I would like to bring to your attention that while our laws are there, we now shift blame to the whole Government with the laws not being implemented, particularly when it comes to dealing with a perpetrator. We go back to the Minister of Justice and the Minster of Home Affairs when it comes to perpetrators, they do nothing to the extent of protecting them. I thank you.
THE HON. SPEAKER: What is your supplementary question?
HON. MARKHAM: It was a point of clarity.
THE HON. SPEAKER: A point of clarity does not need ministerial response.
(181 VIEWS)
