Kabwila defends explicit placard

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Malawi women

Legislator Jessie Kabwila has come to the defence of an explicit placard that led to the arrest of a protester during the solidarity walk to eliminate gender-based violence (GBV) in Lilongwe on Thursday.

The woman Beatrice Mateyo carried a placard that read “Kubadwa ndi nyini sitchimo. My pussy my pride.”

Malawi women
Kabwila has defended the message in the placard

The protester was widely condemned but Kabwila, who was one of the people responsible for producing placards for the march, defended the message and accused critics of just focusing on the placard not the whole protests.

“Why is the whole march being reduced to this placard? I think media should not dance to patriarchy like this. There were many placards. Why talk about one?” she told the Nation.

The protest was partly sponsored by Oxfam and the organisation has since distanced itself from the placard.

“The role of Oxfam was basically sharing a platform of the concerns that the demonstration this morning sent out. We never, as Oxfam, sat down to develop any message,” said Oxfam country director John Makina.

The woman was reportedly released on the same day.