Member of Parliament for Mzimba North Yeremiah Chihana says Malawi’s Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Bright Msaka is ignorant of the law.
Chihana said this on Wednesday when Msaka introduced the Constitutional Amendment Bill aimed at changing Section to set June 23 as the date for elections.
Speaker of Parliament Catherine Gotani Hara asked the legislator to withdraw his remarks but the legislator insisted that he was not out of order.
“I did not say that he is ignorant. I said he is ignorant of the law,” said Chihana.
On Wednesday, Msaka introduced in Parliament the amendment bill which aimed at changing a date for the elections and providing a criteria for determining a winner in a presidential election.
On the criteria, the bill proposed a new Section 80 (2) that reads: “The president shall be elected by the electorate through direct, universal and equal suffrage by obtaining the highest number of valid votes cast.”
The bill also gave the option of a new subsection (2) that says a president should be elected a majority of more than fifty percent of the valid votes cast.
Msaka later changed the bill to only include changing the date for elections. Nonetheless, the bill was rejected after a vote.
Parliament on Tuesday already passed a resolution which set June 23 as the date for the 2020 fresh presidential elections.
But Msaka claimed that the date should be set by amending the Constitution, not through a resolution.
