Registrar of the high court and supreme court of Malawi, Kondwani Banda, says this is due to lack of tools such as booths that protect them from looking directly into the eyes of witnesses when giving evidence.

He said this today in Blantyre when Save the Children provided the judiciary with 70 mobile booths worth K8 million to help address the challenge.

“Some of the court proceedings are not done in courtrooms but outside where we do court circuits. We lack equipment to protect such vulnerable groups when giving evidence because they cannot look directly into the eyes of the witnesses.

“By the virtue of a new law in the child protection act, it provides that they must be provided with a means of cover. These screens will just provide for that and allow much of the vulnerable groups in a society to be able to give evidence both the victims and perpetrators,” he said.

Banda commended Save the Children for the support, saying it will help to serve the communities in justice delivery.

The organization’s programmes manager for reducing teenage pregnancies and child marriages, Chimwemwe Mpunga, believes that the items will help children and women to access justice in the country.

“Our expectation is that they will speed up cases and that children will be safeguarded during the court proceedings. We are also hopeful that these will be used properly and will reach out to the most vulnerable communities in the local areas,” she said.

Save the Children has been having mobile circuits under the Securing Children’s Rights through Education and Protection programme in Mwanza, Neno and Mzimba districts where it was noticed that access to courts is difficult in rural areas.