By Austine Kachilika

Mzimba, August 4, Mana: As one way of ensuring that children’s rights are upheld, M’mbelwa District Council annually holds Children’s Parliament, a platform through which they share and deliberate issues which affect their welfare.

Speaking on Thursday during the opening of the fourth session for Mzimba South Children’s Parliament under the theme ‘Children’s Voices Matters,’ Chairperson for M’mbelwa District Council, Morgan Tembo said children face a lot of challenges that limit them to enjoy their rights, welfare and realise their full potential.

 “There are a lot of issues that hinder children from exercising their rights, these include child marriages, climate change, child labour, poor and inadequate school infrastructure,” said Tembo.

He added that the children’s parliament was held at the right time where there is a need to deliberate on upholding the rights of children by all stakeholder across the country.

“We believe that children are future leaders, therefore, this will be a conducive platform through which the children’s voice will be heard, amplified and taken into consideration by relevant stakeholders including the council,” he said.

On her part, the Speaker of the Children’s Parliament, Rachel Ngulube, expressed concern over lack of effort by authorities in addressing issues which raise during last parliamentary session.

 “There has been little effort to address grievances where we raised in the previous session. We therefore plead with the authorities to deal with issues we raise in this August house,” said Ngulube.

According to Ngulube, the session will focus on finding remedies to early and child marriages, climate change and poor road network saying they are some of the factors which hinder children from enjoying their rights including right to education.

The session is sponsored by NORAD, Save the Children, Securing Children’s Rights through Education and Protection and CCAP Synod of Livingstonia.