Government has assured electoral stakeholder in the country that it was keen to ensure the implementation of the electoral reform in the country.

Minister of Justice, Titus Mvalo made the remarks Thursday during the opening of a two day Electoral Reforms Review Conference organization by National Initiative for Civic Education (NICE) Public Trust at Bingu International Conference Centre (BICC) in Lilongwe.

He said for the long time various electoral stakeholders have been calling for the electoral reforms after every elections in the new multi-party democracy in country. “Government supports the initiative taken by NICE to encore that gaps within our electoral laws are corrected so that out electoral systems should be credible all the time,” Mvalo said.

The Minister admitted that there are several possible electoral reforms that need to be deliberated and come up with resolution fro considerations. He said in 2017 there was a proposal of a transitional arrangement between an election and next government in order to ensure smooth transition of governments. “There was a suggestion to the effect that the incumbent president has to leave office before the commencement of official campaign to avoid abuse of public resources. Presidential candidate should be on equal footing unlike what is happening with the current electoral law,” Mvalo explained.

He added that the report had recommended that a special electoral fund to Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) should set aside for smooth operation of the electoral body. Mvalo said the reform should look into the issue of majority in which the Courts indicated that it should be 50 +1 and how to deal with a re-run in the event of having now winner in an election. “There is suggestion creating of 28 seats meant for Lady Members of Parliament to raise their numbers in the august house. The change will largely depend on the implementation of the new electoral laws. Each district will have a permanent lady representation,” the Minister added.

 
MEC Chairperson Chifundo Kachale said the electoral reforms should take into account on the operation of MEC and make sure the new laws should make it work efficiently. He said the new law should clearly stipulate on how commissioner of MEC would be appointed in order to improve efficiency to the electoral body. “MEC must strive to conduct credible and fair elections when discharging its functions in order to generate confidence to all key stakeholders. The electoral body should act independently without any influence within any branch of government,” Kachale pointed out.   

MEC Chair observed that legal reform is a political process where parliament make laws of the country are stakeholders in the whole process of the electoral reforms. He said there was need to look at the voting process with the new emerging voting technologies in order to speed up the vote counting processes
Nice Public Trust Executive Director, Ollen Mwalubunju said all electoral stakeholders are appealing to parliament to be more responsible to ensure that electoral reforms translate into legislations.

He said it was pleasing to note that the new government was keen on implementing electoral reforms and they need to demonstrate that they are keen to do them

The Constitutional Court  (ConCourt) sitting in Lilongwe has t ruled that the planned lockdown by the former ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was unconstitutional.

The three-judge panel has also recommended that in future, before any lockdown is imposed, practical and realistic measures should be put in place to cushion social economic needs of the poor.

Peter Mutharika, Malawi’s  immediate former president, declared the lockdown in  April. Some concerned citizens and civil society groups obtained a court order stopping the lockdown.

Judge Kenyatta Nyirenda ordered an injunction against its implementation until the government could come up with some way to protect the country’s poorest and most vulnerable citizens.

This ruling forced Mutharika to announce a nationwide minimum wage equivalent monthly cash transfer to poor households. It also forced him to create a Covid-19 task force that included opposition leaders, civil society and public health experts.

Justice Nyirenda faced fierce criticism from the DPP-led government  officials, who declared that if the virus spread quickly then “the nation knows who to blame”. Nyirenda was also attacked for failing to be “patriotic” in the face of a national crisis and branded a ‘covidiot’.

But analysts and civil society groups praised him for maintaining judicial independence.

Boniface Dulani, a senior lecturer in the University of Malawi’s department of political and administrative studies, said that Nyirenda  prevented  possible abuses of power by the then government.

Gift Trapence, chairperson of the Human Rights Defenders Coalition — the civil society group that initially opposed the government’s lockdown plans —  also praised the judge.

The World Bank has donated 18 vehicles valued at over K900 million for the implementation of a project on Investing in Early Years for Growth and Productivity by the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Welfare.

Speaking when she received the donation on Tuesday in Lilongwe, Minister responsible Patricia Kaliati lauded the World Bank for the initiative. She added the project is consistent with government efforts towards investing in human capital for enhanced national progress.

World Bank representative Francisco Obreque has since reaffirmed the Bank’s commitment in ensuring that the project delivers on its goals.

The five year pilot project seeks to improve coverage and utilisation of early childhood development services with focus on nutrition, stimulation and early learning from conception to 59 months. The Ministry of Gender is implementing the project in Likoma, Rumphi, Mchinji, Ntcheu, Mangochi, Machinga, Neno, Chikwawa, Zomba, Mwanza, Dowa, Thyolo and Chiradzulu districts.