Minister Navicha faulted on condemning MHRC Msundwe report

Minister of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare Mary Navicha has been faulted for condemning the Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) – a Constitutional body – over  its release of  a report on rape incidents allegedly committed by police officers against women around Msundwe, Mpingu and Mb’watalika trading centres in Lilongwe.

Ministers Botomani and Mary Navicha have both rapped MHRC Msundwe report

Navicha in a statement that her ministry has noted  “with grave concern” that the  MHRC report has not been released officially nor presented to the Ministry and other stakeholders, instead, it is circulating on social media and being discussed with the international media houses.

“This to us, is a sad development. The Ministry would therefore like to condemn such behavior by Malawi Human Rights Commission and request the organization to immediately share the official report with the relevant stakeholders including the Ministry of Gender,

Children, Disability and Social Welfare. This will enable the Ministry address the issues raised and work on the recommendations made,” reads a statement from Navicha.

But dean of the faculty of law at the University of Malawi’s Chancellor College, Dr Sunduzwayo Madise, have faulted the minister, saying the report is “public”.

Madise  highlighted that MHRC is a Constitutuonal body which is given supreme powers in Chapter XI of the country’s charter.

He states the the Constitution givers MHRC powers of investigation and recommendation.

Minister Navicha’s rap of MHRC comes after Minister of Information, Civic Education and Communications Technology Mark Botomani, who is also government spokesperson, stated that the MHRC report was challengeable because currently the commission does not have commissioners to carry out such task.

Botomani said  the Ombudsman Martha Chizuma and the Law Commissioner Rosemary Kanyuka, who conducted the investigation and released the report in Lilongwe last Wednesday, were only acting as MHRC advisers and not commissioners.

But the Ombudsman said she was “not sure which Constitution the minister is reading where it refers to[me]and the Law Commissioner as advisers of MHRC”.

“What I know is that by Section 130 of the Constitution currently in use in Malawi, the Law Commissioner and myself are commissioners of MHRC. I know a few people have raised this issue before but my view based on the reading of the Constitution is that by making the Law Commissioner and Ombudsman as commissioners, the law never envisaged complete lacunae in the commission, considering that human rights violations never wait for full commission,” explained Chizuma.

The Ombudsman further said it was her view that all interventions they were making are covered under Section 42 of the Interpretation Act.

In their report, Chizuma and Kanyuka said they established that police officers raped 13 women, defiled one girl and sexually assaulted three under-18 girls during their October 8 2019 operation around the area.

The report says the police officers committed the incidents as the women fled violent scenes.

Among others, MHRC recommends that acting Inspector General of Police Duncan Mwapasa should institute criminal investigations into the matter, targeting police officers deployed at Mpingu and M’bwatalika.

The European Union (EU) has since  demanded “swift and decisive” reaction by competent national authorities on police officers accused of rape and wants to see authorities urgently providing the victims with full support.

For some months, MHRC has had no commissioners except for the Ombudsman Martha Chizuma and Law Commissioner Rosemary Kanyuka, who are ex-officio commissioners, following a standing injunction obtained by the Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) stopping the swearing in of the appointed people.

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Peter T
Peter T
4 years ago

We choose wrong people to step in for this case, the people that are dead long ago in their brain. You can see even that bastard we call Peter mutharika he stop thinking long ago that shows his brain is dead. If we talk about Mwapesa he is just big idiot who doesn’t know being the acting General of police.

Nalingula
Nalingula
4 years ago

Not surprised at all ….May be if I had never read James Ngugi’ s Matigari in Primary school .Ministers are just Parrots making sure that His Excellency Ole Excellency government looks goods….Where will the Poor get Justice on this matter …? Rape is Rape whether the MHRC is not there …does not matter…it still remains Rape .But Alas we have so many Parrots who go to College and graduate with degrees in Parrotology ….like one calling themselves HR expert ….They can not analyse and critique …and we end up being a nation of Parrots ….and when His Excellency Ole Excellency… Read more »

BigMan
BigMan
4 years ago

No surprise here, another stupid statement by a stupid minister from a stupid government that cant even handle a simple issue such as this one. They have no leader and no direction. How can we be led by such incompetent people?

Mtete
Mtete
4 years ago

This is the problem of appointing incompetents as ministers. They don’t check the appropriate Law Sections before making fools of themselves in public
I am no legal person but you could tell botoman was making a fool of himself. As for Navicha, alas, she is just a Thyolo woman,;an empty tin.

Shuwa
Shuwa
4 years ago

Is this the same navicha who congratulated the raped women and girls of msundwe bwatalika and the other area that they should be glad that they were raped by police others could die not slept by police, today asking for the report from mhrc mmmmm for other reasons yes i can understand. On top of that she as the minister of what gender children social welfare and disabilities what investigations found from that day wk months til today as concerned. I think it was better for a person like navicha and botomani the dpps to keep quiet just like their… Read more »

William Chirwa
4 years ago

I really don’t get it when you talk of the minister having been faulted on the rrpoty. What I read from your article is that the minister is reminding MHRC yo share their findings report with relevant. stakeholders for either their own records or further action where necessarynecessary. The common word nowadays is stakeholders not every Jim or Jack will act on the findings so procrdurerally MHRC should have shared the report accordingly unless their administration does have those office ethics then let it be that way The honourable minister is just asking for something which in a normal office… Read more »

Vili Mukucha
Vili Mukucha
4 years ago
Reply to  William Chirwa

But I think that the minister could have written the MHRC instead of using the press to reach them. After all MHRC is an arm of the same government. Am wondering why the government should opt to use the media to ‘request’ information from its own arm.

HR Expert
HR Expert
4 years ago
Reply to  William Chirwa

Could it be that the Dean of Law didnt get the Hon. Minister’s point of view. Hon. Minister has not faulted the report but rather the manner it has been circulated, bypassing government (minister), the same organs we want to act on the report. I am listening to the Ombudsman on radio and she is saying they only shared the executive summary of the report. I am wondering as to where the Dean Law got it that the report is public. On ex officio working as commissioners, should this apply only to MHRC? Not long ago, experts were attacking government… Read more »

BigMan
BigMan
4 years ago
Reply to  William Chirwa

Surely you are not a serious person.

kanchenga
kanchenga
4 years ago
Reply to  William Chirwa

Do you really live in Malawi or you are just plain stu…….

Alex mgeni
Alex mgeni
4 years ago

Navicha nzakupaseni battery ndithu.

APM akundiyamwa shaft 🍆👅
Reply to  Alex mgeni

Ofunika kuzamufaira mkamwa ameneyu

Fanuel
Fanuel
4 years ago

Problem of watching too much porn kkkkkkk umangopereka ma comment a zomwezo.

masoambeta
masoambeta
4 years ago

Akukuyamwa shaft yo ndi amako osati APM.

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