Source: Malawi News Agency
Lilongwe — Police says cases of Gender Based Violence (GBV) could remarkably decrease if chiefs collaborated with the law enforcers in the fight other than encouraging the shielding of perpetrators.

National Child Protection Officer, Insp. Alexander Ngwala made the remarks in the wake of an impressive decrease in GBV cases as indicated by 2013 national statistics.

The statistics indicate 15,601 cases reported in 2013 against 29, 488 in 2012 reflecting a downward spiral of over 50 per cent.

"Impressive as the statistics may be, it is still disappointing to note that one of the challenges we face is the tradition of shielding perpetrators of Gender Based Violence in which some chiefs are also involved," said Ngwala who added that a better job could be done if the traditional leaders took lead in breaking the silence.

He pointed out defilement and incest as among the shocking areas of GBV where shielding of culprits was common. "We had a number of incest and defilement cases for example, in Dedza, Traditional Authority Tambala where a man married his own biological daughter and in another case, a chief was suspected of defiling a young girl," explained Ngwala.

He said when the suspected chief was summoned by a concerned organisation the police works with, the chief simply sent his indunas who came to the organisation and said "We have sorted out the matter amongst ourselves".

In a separate interview, Senior Chief Kalumbu in Lilongwe expressed shock and disgust at the revelation that some chiefs could have the decency to commit such kind of negligence.

Though he did not quash out the possibility of such cases happening in his area, Kalumbu said; "I personally feel disgusted by such kind of cases and I have employed serious penalties regardless of who it is that has committed the offence."

The decrease, according to Ngwala, came as a result of intensive community awareness campaigns on the same after the shocking increase in the cases from 24,915 in 2011.

He predicted further decrease in the cases if chiefs and worked together with the police in community sensitisation campaigns on, among others, timely reporting of such offences.

Kalumbu has since vowed commitment in ensuring that such kind of offences do not occur in his area.

According to Inspector Ngwala shielding defilement culprits compromises the victim's chances of receiving Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP), a prescription which has to be taken by the victim within 72 hours (three days) after the defilement to prevent contraction of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).

Medical research has revealed that the safest period for a successful PEP treatment is within the first 24 after defilement.

• Malawi