Lilongwe, September 20, 2018: Main political parties in the country are failing to meet the 50:50- requirement of men and women in political positions as shown by results from their conventions.
Malawi Congress Party (MCP), Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), United Democratic Front (UDF) and Peoples Party (PP) have all held their conventions but none have achieved equal number of women and men in their respective national executive committees (NECs).
Malawi Congress Party spokesperson, Maurice Munthali, said as of now their NEC constitutes 78 members and only 17 are women. This represents 35 per cent of women that are in the MCP National Executive Committee.
On its part, UDF, the first ruling party in the multiparty era which had its national convention last month (August), has also not met the 50:50-requirement.
Speaking to Malawi News Agency on Tuesday, UDF Secretary General Kandi Padambo said following the party’s constitutional reforms, it has a smaller NEC with self-directed (independent) women and youth wings.
“The mother party has currently a National Executive Committee of 40 members, six of which are women.
“Please note that women can compete for positions in the mother party executive in addition to those in the Women’s Wing which is exclusively for women,” he said.
According to People’s Party (PP)’s publicity secretary, Ackson Kalaile Banda, the party’s NEC is made up of 60 members, of which 25 are women. This represents 42 per cent of women that are in the NEC.
For several attempts, this reporter tried to contact DPP responsible officials (Secretary General and Publicity Secretary) on their NEC’s composition but were not picking up the calls.
Commenting on the 50:50 campaign-progress in the Views Triangle on Zodiak Radio held on Sunday, September 9, 2018 which was aired from 8:10pm, NGO Gender Coordinating Network Chairperson, Emma Kaliya, urged politicians to change their mindset if they are to meet the 50:50 desired requirement in the forthcoming elections.
In the same program, a renowned lawyer, Chrispine Sibande, collaborated with Kaliya by proposing the re-designing of the 50:50 campaign strategies so that Malawi can make strides in the campaign.
“The 50:50 Campaign should be abandoned and redesigned. There is more time before the coming elections. Let’s empower women by giving them resources in order to campaign,” he said.
Sibande observed that in most cases, political party members fear their leaders in the country, saying the tendency is common in all the parties.
The 50:50- Campaign -Initiative was officially launched by the Minister of Gender, Disabilities and Social Welfare, Jean Kalirani, on May 3, 2018 at Masintha in Lilongwe.
The consortium of civil society organizations running the campaign has received K1.1 billion financial support from Royal Norwegian Embassy for the cause.
The launch attracted women from the country’s different political parties. The purpose of the campaign is to lobby for more women into politics ahead of the forthcoming 2019 general elections.