MZUZU-(MaraviPost)-Some human rights defenders in the country have punched holes in the recently appointed boards of directors, saying the gender composition of the same flouts the Gender Equality Act and have since asked government to reconstitute the affected boards within seven days else they will face a legal battle.
In a letter to the government through their lawyer, Wesley Mwafulirwa, the four organisations, namely; Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC), Youth and Society (YAS), NGO Gender Coordination Network and Women Lawyers Association (WLA) have said, for example, Malawi Environmental Protection Authority (MEPA) with seven additional ex officio members, only two are females.
The letter further indicates that NGO Gender coordination Network made an observation that representation of women in some of the boards falls short of legal and policy frameworks of Malawi’s parastatal organisations.
The organisations, therefore, feel women rights as enshrined in the republican constitution have been violated through the recent appointments.
They, thus, demand government to; among other things, make sure that all the non-complying boards be reconstituted within seven days from Sunday 27th September, 2020 and also see to it that the next appointments of the non-complying boards should comply with their specific enabling laws as well as the Constitution as read with the Gender Equality Act; lest the organisations seek a legal redress.
On Wednesday last week, the Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Zangazanga Chikhosi, announced the newly appointed boards of diretors for 67 parastatal organisations. However, some appointees have turned down the offer on the grounds of gender imbalance in the boards.
