Malawi laws just good on paper – Chief State Advocate
A senior government official says Malawi has beautiful laws on paper but lacks enforcement that has led to high levels of gender based violence and brutal killings of people with an albinism.
Chief State Advocate Pacharo Kayira said there was need for state enforcing agencies to ensure implementation of the laws to reverse the trend.
Reports from the ministry of Gender and other organisations indicate gender based violence is on record high in Malawi.
The reports also indicate killings of people with albinism is steadily increasing making Malawi one of the unsafe places for people with albinism to live in.
Kayira said Malawi has relevant laws to deal with the vice only that. Implementation of the laws is very poor.
“These issues border on human rights therefore there is need to do more to enforce the human rights laws,” said Kayira ahead of an international human rights indaba in Africa.
“On paper, our laws are very good; on women, child rights, disability, they are very progressive but implementation is the problem,” he said.
He said Malawi will present a paper on the state of human rights in Malawi at the human rights summit.
Despite stiff and prohibiting penalties of long custodial sentences, Malawian men continue to rape women, sexually assault young girls, beat up wives, attack and kill people with albinism and trade their bones and kill the elderly suspected to be witches.
The problem is not the laws but the integrity of the users. We can have the best laws on the planet and if the users lack integrity like what we have in Malawi we will always blame the laws.
Human Right/s is taking a double stand. {1} Its silent to the victim. {2} It protects the pepetrators. Rich people are using poor inhuman people to kill people with albinoism knowingly that Malawi laws has no stiff punishment. In other countries we here a judge have sentenced a serial killer or serial thief to 50years to imprisoment but in Malawi a Magistrate court is better than a High Court: to hear a sentence frm the Honorable H/Court you start wondering as to why the case took time to cnnclude for a dubious/corrupt judgement. Educated people are doing things that makes… Read more »
With a dysfunctional judiciary no amount of laws would have any relevance if not enforced by courts of law. As things presently stand with judges not doing their jobs, while messing around with their huge 4 x 4 government sponsored vehicles we might as well forget that we have these so called wonderful laws. Lets face it, we are a failed state with a failed judiciary with judges who hardly ever come to work and seldom and if ever deliver judgements. Measured by international standards the delivery by our judges is probably the worst in the world. So dear Mr… Read more »