BY CHANCE NAMAZUNDA–ATLAS

Human Rights Consultative Committee (HRCC) has dragged President Lazarus Chakwera and Speaker of the National Assembly Catherine Gotani Hara to Court over the passing of Corrupt Practices Act.

In court documents that we have seen, HRCC is claimant while Speaker of National Assembly is first Defendant and President of republic of Malawi is second respondent.

Confirming the development lawyer representing HRCC George Kadzipatike said his client wants both the passing and assenting of the Corrupt Practices Act reversed.

“I would like to confirm that we filed an application for leave for judicial review before the High Court in Lilongwe against the decision of the Speaker of the National Assembly allowing the National Assembly to deliberate and pass the Corrupt Practices (Amendment) Bill, 2022.The Bill was passed around 28 July, 2022.

“We are also challenging the decision of the President of the Republic, assenting to the Bill. The first application we made in Court was to be allowed to move for judicial review out of time, as judicial review is commenced within three months of the decision. The court granted us extension of time,” Kadzipatike said.

According to the court documents that we have seen the application coming for hearing on 17th March, 2023 is for leave for the Claimants to file the actual judicial review.

“If the court allows us to file the actual judicial review, we also want the court to stop the operation of the Corrupt Practices (Amendment) Act, 2022 because that amendment is clearly unconstitutional and unreasonable.

“By allowing the Anti-Corruption Bureau to prosecute cases without the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions, Parliament created a parallel head of criminal prosecutions to the Director of Public Prosecutions when the Constitution of Malawi only recognizes one central office of criminal prosecutions in the country,” Kadzipatike added.

Asked whether the Speaker and President can be sued on a process that already took place in Parliament, Kadzipatike said in Malawi there is constitutional supremacy and every arm of government (the Executive, the Judiciary and the Legislature) are subservient to the constitution.

In the grounds, the claimants are saying what Parliament did in amending the Corrupt Practices Act to remove the ACB’s requirement of consent from the DPP violates section 99 of the Constitution, and is therefore invalid.

HRCC is being represented by Counsel George Kadzipatike and Chancy Gondwe.

The Corrupt practices Act was passed in July 2022 and was assented to by Chakwera in September 2022. 

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