Aspiring female councillors for different wards in Zomba district have been trained on conflict management in elections by the Women’s Legal Resource Center (WOLREC) ahead of the 2019 tripartite elections.

Project Coordinator for Women Empowered for Leadership Programme(WE4L) Tisungane Irene Ntonga told YFM that, the training is necessary because there are a lot of disagreements which the aspirants run into during campaigns, for instance.

“Elections period are marred by wrangles and most women aspirants are not spared from such, therefore we decided to prepare them for what is to come.”

“Of course we are encouraging them to stand up for themselves but not in a violent manner,” Ntonga said.

In her remarks, one of the aspiring councillors for Chinamwali Ward Happy Katema said women are susceptible to violent acts during campaign period as a result they give up on their dreams to become a councillor or Member of Parliament.

“A lot of females vying for different positions are threatened by men who have the same political goals as theirs so the training will assist us to know how we deal with such people,” Katema said.