Malawi President Joyce Banda will not be stampeded by some activists calling her to resign from her office in respect of Section 80(7) (e) which bars a person from nomination as a President or First Vice-President if he/she holds a public office, government spokesman has challenged. Minister of Information and Civic Education, Brown Mpinganjira, who […]
University of Malawi (Unima) law Professor Edge Kanyongolo has said despite calls from a section of civil society that President Joyce Banda should resign over the financial maladministration at Capitol Hill, the law bars anyone from forcefully deposing a sitting head of state. Kanyongolo – a seasoned academic and constitutional lawyer – said Monday that the Malawian […]
The opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has refused to take a stand on the anticipated January 17 national-wide demonstrations championed by Consumers Association of Malawi (Cama). DPP has since said would love to see the Constitution – which guarantees universal human right to hold peaceful demonstrations – prevailing amidst divided opinion among some sections of […]
Malawi’s leading online publication, Nyasa Times, has named Malawi Defence Force (MDF) Commander, General Henry Odillo, as its ‘Person of the Year’. Nyasa Times introduced the Person of the Year accolade in 2010 and it was first given to the then Vice President Joyce Banda who defied the late President Bingu wa Mutharika plans to hand over […]
Electoral stakeholders in Malawi are exerting pressure on President Joyce Banda to rescind her decision of appointing vice president Khumbo Kachali as a minister responsible for the independent Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC). President Banda on Thursday appointed Kachali to look after the operations of the national electoral body a move she defends as constitutional. She even […]
The newly appointed Attorney General (AG) Anthony Kamanga, SC, says the Joyce Banda administration is committed to supporting and taking the work of the Malawi Law Commission seriously and act on peoples’ wishes. Kamanga, the former Solicitor General, emphasised that the Joyce Banda administration “remains committed to supporting and taking forward the work of the […]
The Joyce Banda administration has been persuaded to “move things on” by implementing – or at least debating openly – the recommendations of the constitutional review. Former chief law reform officer at the Malawi Law Commission, Dr Janet Chikaya-Banda, who oversaw a two-year constitutional review programme in 2004-6., has made the appeal in her latest publication,’Duty of […]
In 1966, two years after gaining independence from Britain, Malawi was declared a republic. For the next 28 years Hastings Banda led the country, and the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) was the sole legally recognised party. The authoritarian regime passed numerous laws designed to maintain its grip on power and stifle civil rights. Freedom of […]
The former governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) says it will welcome back about 20 lawmakers who left the party to join the governing People’s Party (PP). Acting president of DPP, Peter Mutharika, said the “returnees” will be welcomed back in the party benches when Parliament will start sitting this month in Lilongwe. Speaker of Parliament, […]
The number of political parties is expected to keep rising as the country prepares to hold the fifth general election in 2014 if the country’s laws governing the official establishment of political parties are not reviewed, experts have warned. The laws which were hurriedly passed in 1993 to usher in the democratic dispensation through the […]
There is no doubt that Malawi is a very different country with Joyce Banda in State House – a country that is returning to the path of democracy, constitutional government and respect for human rights. It is a reality acknowledged in a new report by the International Bar Association Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI), entitled The […]
Malawi’s Attorney General who also doubles as Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister, Ralph Kasambara, has attracted wrath of activists for informing that President Joyce Banda will not declare her assets because she did that soon after she was elected as the country’s vice president in 2009. Civil society leaders, politicians and the general public at […]
As Malawi commemorates our 48th Independence Anniversary, we look back with pride to the positive contributions that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has made to the economic, social and political landscape in Malawi between 2005 and 2011. DPP also considers 2012 as significant and unforgettable in many ways as it is also the year when the nation lost its beloved leader Ngwazi Professor Bingu Wa […]
A couple of weeks ago, Ralph Kasambara (Attorney General and Justice Minister), proposed a constitutional amendment that would empower the State President to hire and/or fire a vice President. There were some concerns from certain quarters, granted the suspicions that some of the citizenry have towards Kasambara’s ideological agendum, especially when he assumes political power. […]
Outspoken leader of Malawi Democratic Party (MDP) leader has urged President Joyce Banda to call for an emergency constitutional review conference to iron out what he described as ‘silent anomalies’ that are posing serious threat to the country’s democracy. He cited as examples of scenarios of how the ruling People’s Party and its predecessor Democratic […]
Those who have been to the Silicon Valley seeking investment for their ideas will be familiar with an old fable popular among entrepreneurs. It is a story of a scorpion and frog. Fate once had scorpion and frog together on a bank of a big river. Knowing that the frog can swim, the scorpion asked […]
Head of rights group Civic and Political Space Platform, Billy Mayaya, has said the statement by President Joyce Banda that the defection law, Section 65, could have negative economic repercussions on the people of Malawi is applied is regrettable. Electoral Commission says it would need K4.6 billion to conduct by-elections in 31 constituencies and another K225 […]
The Speaker shall declare vacant the seat of any member of the National Assembly who was, at the time of his or her election, a member of one political party represented in the National Assembly, other than by that member alone but who has voluntarily ceased to be a member of that party and has […]