By Macdonald Thom:
With roughly 184 days to go before the Malawi Electoral Commission administers the September 16, 2025 general elections, the country is not yet done with laws on elections, The Daily Times can reveal.
This is because stakeholders have been fine-tuning the Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Elections Bill of 2025.
One of the proposed amendments to the Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Elections Act Number 10 of 2023 is that, once the bill is passed, assented to and gazetted, the Supreme Court of Appeal will be conferred exclusive original jurisdiction to determine complaints relating to undue return or an undue election of a person to the Office of the President.
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There are accompanying amendments to the Constitution, one of which is to Section 105 and seeks to increase the number of presiding Justices of Appeal in any matter, other than an interlocutory matter, from three to seven.
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On Wednesday, there was a heated debate in Lilongwe on the electoral bills, which are expected to be tabled in Parliament soon.
At an event Save Children International (SCI) Malawi and Centre for Civil Society Strengthening (CCSS) organised under the Phungu Wanga Project, Member of Parliament (MP) for Zomba Malosa, Grace Kwelepeta, said although the session was important, she faulted the timing of the bills on elections.
“We are left with 186 days to elections and yet we haven’t even passed this bill in Parliament. We will be rising on April 11 [2025]. Within these 186 days, we are supposed to pass these bills. Within the same days, the President is supposed to assent to them, [and the authorities are expected to ensure that they are] gazetted and implemented. I feel that these bills are not coming at a right time. We are already in election mood. We need to alert our voters. Even the candidates need to know what we are passing,” Kwelepeta said.
She, however, asked organisations to continue conducting such sessions, as they would help in improving the quality of debate in the august House.
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Wongani Mvula, a consultant SCI and CCSS had engaged to make a presentation on elections bills, told the legislators that the Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Elections Bill of 2025 seeks to amend the Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Elections Act No. 10 of 2023 to provide for streamlined mechanism for quick resolution of electoral disputes.
One of the notable amendments is that the Supreme Court of Appeal will be conferred exclusive original jurisdiction to determine complaints relating to undue return or an undue election of a person to the Office of the President.
There are accompanying amendments to the Constitution, one of which is to Section 105 and seeks to increase the number of presiding justices of Appeal in any matter, other than an interlocutory matter from three to seven.
Despite concerns over timing of the bills by some lawmakers, Chairperson for the Legal Affairs Committee of Parliament, Albert Mbawala, said his committee was satisfied that the amendments, specifically citing changes to Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Elections Act.
“They are good for our nation, good for our people, and good for peace. You don’t have to keep people in suspense for a long time. You will have demonstrations, chaos in the country and you may damage the economy. We already have a very small economy. If we damage it, we will be doomed. So, it is good. We implore members of Parliament to support this type of amendment,” he said.
CCSS Programmes Coordinator Mercy Machelo said the information sessions would help deepen the lawmakers’ understanding of bills tabled in Parliament.
“We want them to engage other parliamentarians in a quality debate in Parliament so that we may be able to amend the bills as they require us to do so. We are hoping that, with these sessions, we will have quality debate in Parliament,” Machelo said.
She added that legislators were appreciative of the engagements.
“It is good that most of the MPs appreciate these sessions. At the same time, we appreciate the concerns some of the MPs have on the bills discussed today,” Machelo said.
Phungu Wanga Project is being implemented with support from the European Union (EU).
Apart from bills on elections, MPs were also engaged on Financial Crimes (Amendment) Bill, Prisons Bill and Penal Code (Amendment Bill).
