Malawi lawyers hold demos against executive arm of government

Written by Richard Kayenda

MZUZU-(MaraviPost)—Legal practitioners, paralegal staff and other workers in the legal industry have today held demonstrations in the cities and towns of the country in a bid to express their dismay with the failure of the executive arm of government to recognise the independence of the judiciary, another branch of the same.

Clad in their court regalia; others in white t-shirts inscribed on the back: Executive… stay on your lane… , the legal minds, in Mzuzu City, in the company of officials from Church and Society of the CCAP Synod of Livingstonia, Human Rights Defenders Coalition (Hrdc) and members of the citizenry started their match from Shoprite Round to Mzuzu High Court at around midday.

According to a private practice lawyer, Patrick Ngwira, who was part of the demonstration, the executive arm of the government is misconducting itself by failing to recognise the independence of the judiciary.

“It is very sad that the executive is unable to recognise the boundary between itself an the judiciary. The constitution of Malawi is very clear on the separation of powers among the three branches of the government and the independence of judiciary and its staff,” said Ngwira.

The demonstration of the lawyers comes at a time the Chief Secretary to the government, Lloyd Muhara, is being condemned for issuing a public notice informing the general public that the Chief Justice Andrew K. C. Nyirenda, SC, will be proceeding on leave with immediate effect.

Both local and international legal experts have since punched holes in the notice saying, it was erroneous and unconstitutional for the executive branch to process retirement of the head of judiciary whose contract still runs up to December 2021.

Maneno Chimulala

I am a journalist, educator, and activist with passion for telling stories about social justice, sports and political issues. I graduated from Mzuzu University. I started my career at the Maravi Post online publication in 2012 as an intern while in college. Upon graduating from Mzuzu University I was offered a job as Sports Reporter because of my background as a goalkeeper and rose to the position of sub editor. I also had a short stint with Nyasatimes, Malawi Punch and Malawi Digest. Over the past seven years, I have worked intimately with rural organizations and communities in Malawi on human rights, girl child education and grassroots development projects. With an academic background in education, I also volunteer as male champion for girls’ education under Girls Empowerment Networks (GENET) in Malawi’s South West Education Division (SWED).