‘Cutting off katundu can’t stop defilement’
By Mast Reporter
THE Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) in Sinda District, Eastern Province, says the statement from Minister of Community Development and Social services Doreen Mwamba of castration to men who defile young ones isn’t a progressive one.
District coordinator Bodmass Banda advised government to come up with reasonable solutions to the escalating rate of child defilement because castration was not the solution and it won’t be a solution.
“We need to sensitise women and adults in this issue so that children are protected. But the statement by the minister of castrating men who will be found wanting isn’t a good idea at all. We can’t support that at all. Anybody who can support that is not a human because a proper human being should have those parts and not to castrate. We can’t support that,” he said.
Last week Mwaamba warned men that they risked being castrated if they did no refrain from sexually abusing children.
“I am warning you, men of Zambia. When we open Parliament, I am pushing for castration. You defile a girl, you’ll be castrated. Pakweba ati tafilemicusha ifinti ifyo [so that those things don’t trouble you],” she said while addressing villagers in a rural setting.
But Banda said CCJP could not support the idea of castration because it did not solve the root cause.
Banda said no man was allowed to take such brutal revenge on a wrong doer.
He said every offender deserved a befitting punishment.
“What we need to think about is what is the root cause, but not to do what she says. It’s a shame and disgrace to think of cutting the manhood of a 70-year-old man who has defiled a child and as a Christian nation, that will attract a lot of controversy especially to a nation that is known as a Christian nation,” Banda said.
He challenged married women to be available to their husbands as some factors that fuelled defilement included the non-availability of some women to their husbands because of making themselves busy, not having time for their husband.
“The fight against defilement and rape should be looked at from a broader perspective because some men stay long without meeting a woman and later think they can relief themselves by descending on a young child while others it’s deception from friends that tell them that for them to get rich, they need to sleep with young ones, which is very wrong and very misleading,” Banda said.
He accused some wives of being too busy for their husbands.
“They are always out of home. They leave their husbands unattended to and at times the disorganisation at home leads to such. It is therefore important for women to protect their homes. Let them be available to their husbands,” Banda said.
He challenged government to only continue with sensitisation against defilement.
“Let parents take full responsibilities about their homes. Let the wives be available to their husbands. Let the husbands find other ways of relieving themselves instead of abusing children,” Banda said.
