President Dr Lazarus Chakwera, President of the Republic of Malawi, has assented to the following 15 Bills passed by the 5th Meeting of the 49th Session of Parliament:
(1) Bill No. 2 of 2022: Land Survey (Amendment);
(2) Bill No. 3 of 2022: Physical Planning (Amendment);
(3) Bill No. 4 of 2022: Registered Land (Amendment);
(4) Bill No. 5 of 2022: Lands Acquisition and
Compensation (Amendment);
(5) Bill No. 6 of 2022: Customary Land (Amendment);
(6) Bill No. 7 of 2022: Peace and Unity;
(7) Bill No. 8 of 2022: OPEC Fund for International Development (Dowa Town
Water Supply and Sanitation Project) Loan (Authorisation);
(8) Bill No. 9 of 2022: International
Development Association (Additional Financing for Lilongwe Water and Sanitation Project) Loan (Authorisation);
(9) Bill No. 10 of 2022: Non-Governmental Organisation (Amendment);
(10) Bill No. 14 of 2022: Malawi Revenue Authority (Amendment)};
(11) Bill No. 17 of 2022: Seeds;
(12) Bill No. 18 of 2022: Custom and Excise (Amendment);
(13) Bill No. 19 of 2022: Public-Private Partnership;
(14) Bill No. 21 of 2021: Deposit Insurance Corporation; and
(15) P. M. B. No.1 of 2022: National Children’s Commission (Amendment).
Among the bills, President Lazarus Chakwera has also assented to the controversial Non-Governmental Organizations’ (NGO) Act Amendment Bill.
The development comes as some Civil Society Organizations-CSO’s suspect the bill seeks to gag their operations and undermine human rights and democracy hence their initial push to revise some clauses.
Reacting to the news, Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation Executive Director Michael Kaiyatsa describes today as a sad day for democracy and freedom of expression.
He claims this shows President Chakwera and his administration does not respect the constitution.
Earlier, the CSO’s pleaded with Chakwera not to assent to the bill; claiming it also gave the undefined mandate to the NGO authority to suspend and close an organization if any part of the law is violated.
Passed in March this year, the bill, among others, demands accountability for funds and defines roles of the NGO Board and Council for Non-Governmental Organizations in Malawi.