BY GRACE MACHA IN ARUSHA
Poverty is largely behind early marriages and pregnancies among the girls within the East African region.
This is because many of the victims, including school girls, are from low income families and are easily lured into early sex by men.
"Girls who marry young are from poor families", said Ms Happiness Lugiko, a Tanzanian lawmaker with the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala).
She told the just-ended sitting of the House that even during and after pregnancy, the young ladies pose a burden to their stressed families.
"They become an economic burden because their families cannot afford to care for them and their new born", she said.
Ms Lugiko was debating a Motion tabled before Eala, urging the East African Community (EAC) to eradicate child, early and forced marriages.
The Motion was moved by Dr. Jago Odok Woda Jeremiah and Ms Francoise Uwumukiza, Eala MPs from South Sudan and Rwanda respectively.
The Tanzanian legislator said the solution to the crisis lay in empowering the girls and their families through income generation projects.
The Motion urged the EAC partner states to enforce and implement their national laws relating to the age of consent to marriage.
The MPs stressed that entering into marriage - voluntarily and freely - would eliminate child and forced marriages.
Another Tanzanian legislator Ms Pamella Maasay said there was little awareness in the rural areas on early pregnancies and education for the girls.
"Many parents there do not give importance to education for girls while others cannot afford to send their daughters to school", she said.
She also called on the EAC partner states to increase funding to their respective gender departments in order to address critical issues.
Ms Rose Akkol (Uganda) said early pregnancies/marriages were bigger because even the Sexual and Reproductive Bill passed years ago has not been ratified by EA states.
"We have all legal frameworks but nobody cares about the rights of our children", she said before the Motion was passed.
Ms Fancy Nkuhi (Tanzania) expressed her concern on the existing loopholes in laws on forced marriages and pregnancies.
There were also calls for punitive measures on culprits behind the harmful practices and adverse effects of early and forced marriages.
The EAC member states were urged to establish regional measures and policies to protect boys and girls from the vice.
According to Demographic and Health Surveys (DHSs) adolescent pregnancies and early motherhood was rampant in the region and beyond.
They ranged from 18 percent in Kenya to 29 percent in Malawi and Zambia while the reported decline in countries such as Tanzania and Uganda since the 1990s have not been consistent.
Nearly a half of unsafe abortion cases in sub-Saharan Africa occur among adolescent girls and young women under the age of 25 years.
In Kenya, for instance, adolescent girls make up nearly 17 percent of post abortion cases and account for 45 percent of severe abortion related complications treated in health facilities.
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