Boycott Parliament – Malawian activists demand

Nov 08, 2017 Politics 86
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Timothy Mtambo

Civil Society Organizations have called on members of the Malawi parliament to boycott parliament because of government’s failure to table the Electoral Reforms Bills in the next sitting of Parliament, saying all opposition MPs including Leader of Opposition, Lazarus Chakwera, will be regarded pro-government if they show up in Parliament.

Among the bills is the proposal to amend Section 80(2) of the Malawi Constitution and Section 96(5) of the Presidential and Parliamentary Elections Act to set a requirement that a presidential candidate should win more than 50% of the votes to be declared a winner, failure of which would see the two leading candidates square off against each other in a re-run.

Timothy Mtambo
Mtambo: Boycott Parliament

“The absence of the bills on the initial list of bills to be tabled in Parliament is simply a clear sign that the reforms are not a priority to the government” said Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) and the Centre for the Development of People (CEDEP) in a statement.

The CSOs say they are not convinced with the excuse given by Leader of the House, Kondwani Nankhumwa that the bills could not be taken to parliament because Cabinet has not finalized reviewing them.

However, the CSOs claimed government’s excuse is intended to delay the execution of reforms in order to give the DPP regime a leeway in the 2019 elections. The activists have alleged that the bills “threaten” the ruling party’s existence.

“Looking at how the current government has behaved in the past over laws that seem to threaten their existence, we suspect that this is yet another calculated move by those in power to delay the electoral reform process.

“We have every reason to be suspicious because it is clear that DPP has not been in favour of this bill right from the start and is clearly seeking ways to further delay it” reads part of the statement signed by CEDEP’s Gift Trapence and CHRR’s Timothy Mtambo, branding the delay a “betrayal of the highest order”.

The CSOs have thus far called upon the opposition members of Parliament boycott parliamentary deliberations until that time when the electoral reform bills are included on the parliamentary agenda.

“We call upon the opposition and all patriotic members of Parliament not to start any deliberations until the electoral reform bills have been included on the parliamentary agenda, otherwise we will conclude that they are together with the government in support of these compromised laws so that they can use them to their favour if they get to power” charged the activists.

There is also another bill that proposes to amend Section 62 of the Constitute for each district to reserve a seat for Women aspirants for parliament.

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86 Comments

  1. Why is the gvrnt failing to accept kuti Bushiri is the right solution to blackout situation in Malawi? Akhala akupempha zambiri in our country koma boma sililora, kodi nchifukwa chani? In most wealthy countries they treat Bushiri as the right donor koma kuno ndi mwana wathu and tikumulesa,, wake up Malawi munthuyu safuna upresident ,he is already rich and only needs to change the lives of we Malawians.

  5. Sometimes i dont understand Chakwera i think of voting for him bt it seems the guy is a gambler on federal he was quite and this electro reform he is sitting phwii in parliament business as usual he is expecting something good frm dpp govt insteady of strategizing how to defeat goliath that means he is also a tribalist cause everybody who is comfortable with current system is regionalist,nepotist,tribalist

  9. tiyeni tivoteni either 50+1 or without 50+1 koma dziwani kuti in 2024 DPP 50+1 adzaifuna ndiye Chakwera Mia and Msowoya adzakuyankhani kuti paja mudaikana

  12. eeshhh! I’ve been checking ma comments ama guys ambiri apa mmm it seems most Malawians still don’t understand the 50+ campaign,what it is all about and the significance it could bring along if implemented. well for u guys amene simukuzwa what this thing z all abt pliz osamangothamangila kususa,kunyoza etc.try kufuvuza kaye zoona zenizeni musanayambe kuyankhulapo.The 50+ idea is for our own good as Malawians.

  14. Koma ku malawi kuno mvuto ndichani,why boycott zinthu malo moti mukambilane ndikumanga mfundi imodzi ……tizipitilila kukhala komaliza chonchi.

  15. If you were a President…what would you do with the current situation.?Try to develop yourself ..if you fail don’t criticize the government …for how long shall we blame our leaders..dziko lomwe lino anthu sakudanda. .Dzuka Malawi Dzuka..ndale zikusaukitsani…

  18. Join AFORD you losers…indeed no leader is gonna come from North…look at Msowoya now…kkkkkkk..overtaken by Mia Sidik…kkkkk

  22. Chakwera undisamale!!!!!!! Ndati undisamale,ungoziwa kuononga ndikulandira ndalama basi?kodi zoti president osusa amalamuliranso dziko mukuziwa agalu inu?ndichani mwachita choti amalawi apindula?atakonzera mk2000 bank note lero inu mukuigwiritsa ntchito,akukonzanso k5000 inu mukungoyang’anaso kodi tipondule kumva za boycotting basi?ngati mukunyanyala, nyanyalani zenizeni koma chipande poomola,musaiwale mudakhAla pa mpandowo kamba ka wathi,adzimva kt simukupedzeka parliament mudzAwina nomwenu?eeeeee!!!!! Mwandionjedza kwambiri,zitsutsani koma DPP sigwededzeka,konzani lamulo mukufunalo lidzakuphani nokha popedza muyedzo ulinga nzako mmawa ndiwe.chitani zoti mukonze tsogolo osati zopusazi

  24. some times we need to think properly. what you bring in is too had for Malawians. They just copy not doing for what they know. mmmm where are you driving us to?

  25. Za ziiiii inu osango peza nthawi kupita ku office ya a president ndikukapeleka njila yopezela magetsi ina bwanji. Onensani nzeru a president alephele okha. Shame shame. Udindo wanu ukhalenso okweza malawi osati kususa basi Za ziiiii.

  31. OUR CSOs ARE BEING REMOTE CONTROLLED BY SOME POLITICAL PARTIES. NDI MBUZI IZI . BOMA SILINGASIYE KUGWILA NTCHITO CHIFUKWA MBUZI ZINA ZACHITA BOYCOT PARLIAMENT.

  32. eeeeee awaso nd ndiovuta2… akufuna boma lisove mavuto angat nthawi imodz?… omwewo akuvuta akufuna magets omwewo akufunanso electrol reform bill… kd ANTHU INU mumafuna malawi izisaukabe et? inu ndaamene mukubweretsa umphawi2 muno mmalawi…

  34. Do you think that the opposition MPs in Malawi can really boycott parliament the way they love money? Boycotting means no allowances for them. They need money to keep for campaign wawa. So I don’t see anyone boycotting not even the so called leader of opposition. Kkkkkkk

    4. What type of defence is this bwana Lovemore Wiseman Chapasingo? What about us do we have any other country apart from Malawi? You don’t have to utter such threats in public media like FB like what you have done otherwise it’s not safe here and you may be regarded as a terrorist with such threats of burning down houses of MPs. This is just my free advice you can take it or leave it bwana Lovemore.

  44. Kkkkk anthu ozindikira ankadziwa kuti ma electrol reforms amenewe boma sangadzitengere ku parliament..parliament sitting will proceed. mukuwakuwa mutopa! paja munayamba fighting 4 fedalism dzinafera mmazra izinso chimodzimodzi

    2. Otsutsa ndamene abweretse achita mmene adapangira information bill tudziwa kuti mlomwe sangayikonde chifukwa ikumubaya imeneyi koma zitheka.

  45. Government is afraid here of losing the coming election, Let MPs hear the call and stay away from the August House

  48. They started long time ago making stupid accuses to delay it so that in 2018 MEC will say it has no time to implement it

  54. BOYCOTT? GIVE ME A BREAK! YOU MEAN THESE MPS CAN BUY THIS DECISION? GREEDY AS THEY ARE? YOU CAN NOT BE THAT SERIOUS. BESIDES THIS, WHAT CHANGE CAN IT BRING TO THE CONSTITUENTS? CONSULT THE AVERAGE MAN IN THE STREET BEFORE MAKING DECISIONS AFFECTING OUR COUNTRY PLEASE.

  58. It doesn’t matter kaya 50+1 is useless, people will vote according to their will, let’s follow the Americans and the British elections systems, 50+1 was design for war conflict countries and Malawi is one of the peaceful countries in the world and we don’t need to switch on that system.

    1. Keep your ignirance to yourself. If you do not know keep quite. So what is wrong with having an acceptable majority win?

    2. Is Zambia a war country? anthu osekelera zopusa ngati inu are the reason why we cant have a big push through the poverty trap!

    3. wow! this guy really doesn’t knw wat he’s talking abt,hey fellow here z an eye opener for u, this very system is used in the US .US,Zimbabwe,Zambia as already stated r they war countries? wake up man

    5. We tumbukas we wl tell you that malawi as of now its not a peaceful country to us we are treated like foreigners in our own country thats why we want three things indipendent or federal even electro reform

  60. We’ll hold by-elections to elect only MPs from the ruling party so as to have officials who can work in harmony in addressing peoples challenges

  61. Bvuto inu a mabungwe ndi azipani zotsutsa simutithandiza.ndipofunika osapitako kumene mawa mpakana abweletse bill imeneyo asatiseweletse awa a dpp dzikoli salawo.

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