By Emmanuel Moyo
Chiefs in Karonga have lobbied with Ministry of Justice to move with haste on drafting of electoral law reform bills saying it key in preventing post-election violence.
This came to light on Friday when Evangelical Association of Malawi (EAM) had an engagement with traditional leaders and faith leaders in the district.
In an interview, Traditional Authority (TA) Kilupula described moving with haste in the ministry as a tool in helping the country attain peace.
“Our request to the Ministry of Justice is that they should not delay gratification in the way of treating issues that come at their table, if this can be done before the next election takes place, it can help Malawi at large to have peace after elections,” he said.
On his part, Advocancy on Governance Officer for EAM, Matchona Phiri, said likelihood of having electoral violence is compounded when there are challenges around the Electoral Laws.
“Our interest is peace and we believe the likelihood of electoral violence in the country is compounded when there are challenges around laws, so we found it wise to engage traditional and faith leaders.
“The engagement was to appraise them on the progress being made and call on them to begin to take a stand in pushing relevant stakeholders that when these bills or proposals come before their desk to quickly work on the drafting and that members of parliament should enact them and finally the president to assent to them,” he said.
Phiri has since described faith and church leaders as critical stakeholders saying they are the ones who receive both victims and perpetrators of electoral violence hence they cannot afford taking a back seat.
Some of the electoral bills to be reviewed are transitional arrangements, electoral commission, and amendments bills.
