Parliamentarians divided again!

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Malawi Parliament Peter Mutharika

Parliamentarians  were on Thursday involved in yet another drama as opposition legislators clung to the proposed amendment of the Corrupt Practices Act.

The motion which was moved by Malawi Congress Party (MCP) Member of Parliament Peter Chakhwantha received mixed reactions by legislators from the government side.

The amendments were aimed to enhance the independence of the operations of the ACB.

Malawi Parliament Peter Mutharika
Parliamentarians in the National Assembly on different views.

The Bill proposes that Section 5 (1) of the CPA which reads that “the President shall, on such terms and conditions as he thinks fit, appoint the director” should be replaced with one that says that “the director shall be appointed by the Public Appointments Committee on such conditions as the committee shall think fit”.

Chakhwantha proposes an additional Section 5(3) which outlines that the director of ACB should be appointed after the committee calls for nominations from the public through an advert placed by the Clerk of Parliament.

Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Samuel Tembenu argued that powers of the president to appoint were entrenched in the Constitution and the Public Appointments Committee of Parliament is mandated to provide checks and balances in the work of ACB.

It also fell to stern rejection by the legislators on the government side.

ACB has for a long time now been said to be controlled and manipulated by the government of the day.