"I will remain sad because I know the cost of child marriage. It deprives girls of education and undermines their self-confidence and self-identity. It also makes them prone to physical and emotional abuse by their so called husbands"

"Girl-child marriages need to be prohibited tough the Constitution because they are a violation of every conceivable human right including the right to life, health, education, human dignity and development"

"What I know for sure child marriage is a guarantee for poverty among girls in my country and I want it to end. No ifs or buts"

"widow cleansing,” a traditional practice in which a widow is expected to have sexual relations, “in order to cleanse her"

"There is a belief that if she does not sleep with someone, the spirit of her dead husband will come and visit upon her and her family will be cursed"

"It’s a mindset issue,” says White. Even the widows, they’ve told me, ‘I don’t want to die, I don’t want a curse to come to my husband.’ They cry to be cleansed"

"Some have actually come out in the open and said: ‘I used to be a commercial cleanser, I’m HIV positive, I’ve stopped, it’s not fine and I go village by village telling other commercial cleansers to stop this, it’s a risky taboo behavior"

"I decided I’m going to dedicate my life to dealing with injustice, just because I don’t like it when a structure or system puts others in poverty, puts others in a position of inequality"

"When I came back the next day, the “women” had indeed gathered waiting for me. However I noticed that the “women” were not women, as such. They were… kids. Teenage girls"

"I was hoping to talk to women and not to kids or girls, as I don’t think they would understand much about inheritance"

"The judge has already been bribed. We knew before going to court, the case was on Friday but we knew by Wednesday that something was wrong."

"We are cooperating with our UK partners but this matter is still under investigation and I cannot provide any more details. It is unsurprising that the case is not moving."

"Men have been dominating Malawi politics for too long. Maybe that's why they are blundering. But I think that if a woman can come up, she would improve a lot of things"

"I am still available, watching with keen interest. If the current government fails, I will certainly stand as a presidential candidate in the next elections."

"I think the first month I want to recover and find the Martha who was the Martha before June 1, 2021, because I need her back."

"I am happy that I have been appointed as the ACB director but that is only the first hurdle as Parliament have to confirm the appointment. For now, let us wait until the appointment is duly confirmed. If given the honour to serve Malawians in this role, I am ready do what my job entails me to."

"Actually I did not withdraw, I stepped down. Many people in Malawi asked me to stand; it was under that pressure that I decided to declare myself an independent presidential candidate. But later the church saw the opposition was not very strong, so they decided to form a coalition. We needed a change of government, for many reasons.... There were nine parties at the time, so the church advised me not to stand, because I was going to divide the votes. So I applied to join the coalition."

"Where I was voting there was peace, people voted freely. I am president of Women's Voice and director of the Malawi Centre for Advice, Research and Education on Rights. We participate in voter education and we also do monitoring. All the information I received from my own offices told me the elections have been almost peaceful."

"Unlike all the others, I satisfied all the conditions to be their presidential candidate but I hear they rejected me when they discussed my application. They were afraid of me. Here in Malawi we are still chauvinistic."