Yeremiah Chihana calls for a federal government
Mzimba North Legislator Yeremiah Chihana says he wants to move a private members motion on the adoption of a federal system of government.
According to Chihana, it is in the interest of equitable distribution of resources and developments in the country and as a solution to the challenges brought about by the quota system in the education sector, coupled with the elasticity of Malawi politics.
“To that I believe the parliament resolves that all efforts and legal framework should be put in place towards the adoption of a federal system of government within a specified time period and in any case before the next scheduled elections in 2024,” Chihana said.
Chancellor College political commentator Ernest Thindwa said the federalism project will require ‘genuine and open’ national discourse to attain a consensus.
“I would suggest that first we consider rolling out decentralisation policy in its entirety so that we can learn lessons within the current institutional setting as part of preparing citizens for the federal system.
“Lessons from full implementation of the decentralisation policy will be significant in not only shaping attitudes towards the federalism project but also in determining whether the federalism project is a viable option for us as a country. We need to appreciate that a federal system has its own challenges,” Thindwa said.
In 2019 Malawians took to social media the discussions of federalism as the issue was also brought into parliament, which saw some quarters supporting the notion as one way of ending tribalism and nepotism.
