By Caathy Maulidi
Members of Parliament have for the first time differed on political handouts with others saying the provision on handouts and others in the Political Parties Act be gazetted while others hold a different view.
The issue came up on Friday after Member of Parliament for Thyolo Central Ben Phiri quizzed Minister of Justice Titus Mvalo on when he intends to gazette the regulations.
According to Phiri, the regulation is important to level the playing field during campaign period.
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Among others, the Political Parties Act prohibits handouts listed as follows:
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- the publicized giving of funeral condolences in cash or kind,
- publicised assistance in cash or kind during a funeral,
- publicized giving of money or goods to a person performing at a social, cultural, or political event,
- publicized giving of money or a gift to a chief, community leader, religious leader, or other leaders,
- publicized giving of money or gift to a religious gathering or congregation.
According to Phiri, there is need to have the regulations enforced as the country is approaching 2025 elections.
He added that the bill is good for Malawi and is a good tool for fight against corruption.
“There is need for Malawians to know who is funding political party campaigns because during campaign period, the funders are donors but when the party gets into government, the donors become investors and this is where corruption starts,” Phiri said.
On handouts, Phiri said there are some intelligent people out there but they are failing to get into politics because they do not have money to entice voters.
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But Member of Parliament for Lilongwe South Peter Dimba has proposed that the regulations be scrutinized first before they are gazetted.
“In Parliament, we stood to propose that there be enough consultations with MPs because I was privileged to have seen these regulations. Some of them are good but some of the regulations on the prohibited handouts are controversial and need to be sanitized.
“Laws do not exist in a vacuum. The political context, political system and the political culture ought to be considered before such laws are promulgated,” Dimba said.
In response, Mvalo said the regulations will go through a consultation process before being gazetted.
“The regulations are ready and are in my office. I got them on Tuesday this week and I was prepared to have them published before this House adjourns but the response from most members is that they should go through a consultation process at the legal affairs committee, so I agreed,” Mvalo said.
According to Mvalo, the regulations will soon be sent to Legal Affairs Committee for scrutiny before they are published in the house.
