Enough Talk, Mr. Tenthani — Enforce the Law or Step Aside

Malawians are tired. Tired of hearing the same stories of impunity. Tired of reports that expose wrongdoing but end with no accountability. Tired of the endless chorus of “we are reviewing,” “we will engage,” and “we will take a measured approach.”

The latest revelations from the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP) are not new. They are not shocking. They are simply another chapter in the long, disgraceful story of politicians breaking the law — and walking away untouched.

Registrar of Political Parties Kizito Tenthani has once again told the nation that political parties are violating the Political Parties Act with impunity — from failing to disclose donors to mixing taxpayer money with private funds. Yet instead of decisive action, he offers what has now become a ritual of soft rebukes and polite disappointment.

Let’s be honest: Malawians no longer need a commentator-in-chief in the ORPP. They need an enforcer of the law.

Section 27(6) of the Political Parties Act is unambiguous — failure to declare private funding is a crime punishable by a fine equal to the undeclared amount and two years in prison. Section 24 empowers the Registrar to recommend suspension of state funding for non-compliant parties.

So, Mr. Tenthani, why are the culprits still walking free? Why are political parties — the same ones that constantly preach about rule of law and accountability — allowed to operate above the very laws that regulate them?

It is absurd that parties can receive hundreds of millions of kwacha in public funds and still fail to separate taxpayer money from private donations. It is even more insulting that such acts are met not with prosecution, but with “commendation for effort.”

Every year, your office publishes these same findings — MCP and DPP mixing funds, Aford ignoring compliance, other parties hiding donors — and every year nothing changes. What exactly is the ORPP doing beyond telling Malawians what we already know?

How many times will you stand before the press to announce violations, only to “take a measured approach” afterward? How many times will you promise action “in due course” while political elites mock the system with open arrogance?

If ordinary citizens failed to pay tax, they would be in court within days. But when political parties — the biggest beneficiaries of taxpayers’ money — openly defy the law, your office turns into a counselling centre, not a law enforcement agency.

Let’s call it what it is: this is not “a good start,” as you put it, Mr. Tenthani. It is a good example of how deeply rooted the rot of impunity has become. Governance experts and watchdogs have spoken clearly — from Charles Kajoloweka to Willy Kambwandira and the Malawi Law Society. They all say the same thing: enforce the law.

You have the power to act. The law is behind you. The nation is watching. What is missing is political courage.

Malawians no longer want statements. We want sanctions. We want names. We want prosecutions. We want state funding suspended for defiant parties. Anything less is complicity.

Mr. Tenthani, the time for polite press briefings and “measured approaches” is over. Either you unleash the full wrath of the law on these lawbreakers or you become part of the machinery that enables their defiance.

History will not remember those who merely spoke about impunity. It will remember those who ended it.

So act — not tomorrow, not “after further review,” but now. Because the patience of Malawians has run out.

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