President Peter Mutharika’s decision not to sign into law the controversial Constituency Development Fund (CDF) Constitutional Amendment Bill has thrown legislators off balance. Yesterday, mover of Bill No. 2 of 2025 Emmanuel Chambulanyina Jere of Mzimba South (Malawi Congress Party) insisted that Section 73 of the Constitution allows him to retable it.
“Our Constitution is clear that when the Bill has not been assented to by the President, it gives room for 21 days not to be tabled then after the lapse of 21 days we can table it. If it passes, the President doesn’t have another option, but to assent to it. “The Executive arm of government can say whatever they want, but the Legislature also has the constitutional mandate to make laws,” he said, adding that the Bill came as a Private Member’s, therefore, the Executive has no control over it.
But with Mutharika clearly signalling that he does not even want the Bill to be deliberated again in the House, Jere is likely to struggle to gain the required support for a proposed law that just early last month passed unanimously in rare bi-partisan unity, with all the 199 members present in the House supporting it as 25 were absent. The Bill especially has an uphill battle among Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members of Parliament (MPs) following the clear direction from the President, who has “withheld consent” to the Bill. Mutharika has since ordered the ministers of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and Finance, Economic Planning and Decentralisation to draft guidelines for managing CDF that do not compromise financial integrity.
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In an interview yesterday, Minister of Information and Communications Technology Shadric Namalomba reinforced the President’s stance, signalling that Mutharika has no appetite for the Bill. He said the underlying issue is that the Bill is not progressing further, with the decision already communicated to Parliament. Said Namalomba: “Those who want to get it back to Parliament; let them do so, but with the new direction taken and new information we have, no member of DPP will vote for this Bill.
“Remember we have superior majority in Parliament! They can’t achieve 75 percent required to make a constitutional amendment! The Bill was dead on arrival and the President has just confirmed that the Bill is dead.” Coincidentally, all the DPP legislators we reached out to for their positions on the matter refused to speak, saying they feared political reprisals.
In a separate interview yesterday, Nkhotakota Central MP Sylvester Ayuba James (Independent) said Mutharika’s communication shows that he wants guidelines to ensure that funds are not abused whether by MPs, councillors or anyone involved. “I don’t think it’s the President’s intention that the Bill should not be tabled anymore because law making powers are with the National Assembly. I don’t think the President has powers [over] the National Assembly in that manner.
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