When the Minister of Women, Gender and Community Development, Patricia Kaliati, announced her ministry's proposed Sex Workers Bill I expected backlash from faith groups - it may yet come.
What has surprised me however, is the fact that the only criticism so far has come from a human rights group, Human Rights Consultative Committee (HRCC). Through their national coordinator, Mabvuto Bamusi, the rights group has argued that "Malawi is a faith-based country with all forms of religions whose beliefs condemn prostitution; therefore we must not forget who we are, culturally and morally, Bamusi told Reuters.
I find this argument cheap and scandalous, more so that it is coming from a self-styled human rights group that ought to stand for the rights of all. Malawi may indeed pride itself in being "God-fearing nation" but the fact is that prostitution exists in Malawi. Also, not every Malawian is "God-fearing" citizen. These people ought to recognised and protected like all other citizens.
I am not advocating for prostitution but recognising its existence is the only way we can improve things. After all, the essence of the bill is to protect sex workers from abusive clients and I feel the ministry has done a good job by coming up with this proposal.
HRCC needs to look at a bigger picture; there are many unintended positive consequences that may come out of this bill. For instance, by protecting sex workers they will also be empowered to demand safe or protected sex from their clients, hence they know they have somewhere to go if they are abused. Furthermore, sex workers are most likely to seek health advise if they know they are accepted.
This would help curb the rate of HIV/Aids and other sexual transmitted diseases. HIV/Aids is one of the biggest problems facing the country today. Therefore, every little step that would help curbing it must be encouraged.
According to National Aids Commission (NAC) Chairperson Reverend Bernard Malango, Malawi has been registering an average of nearly 90,000 new HIV/Aids infections annually. Half of these cases are among the youth.
I therefore urge the HRCC to take all these issues into account when they are talking about the of morality the country or lack of it.