Chakwera rejects bill that would have made Malawians fund political party campaigns
President Lazarus Chakwera has refused to sign into law an amendment in the Political Party Act which sought to oblige government to give political parties funds for election campaigns.
In a statement released by Chakwera’s spokesperson Anthony Kasunda, the president rejected the bill because it is not complying with Section 40(2) of the Constitution.
Section 4(2) of the Constitution obliges the State to provide funds to political parties that have achieved one-tenth of the national vote.
Meaning to say if the Political Parties Act is amended to divert from this, then that Act would be inconsistent with this Constitutional provision.
Social and legal commentator, LordDenning QB, has stated that “if the Political Parties Act is amended so as to divert from the Constitutional provision, then that Act provision would be a dead text”, he said, explaining that;
“This is so because section 5 of the Constitution asserts supremacy of the Constitution whereby any Act of Parliament (such as the Political Parties Act in question) that contradicts or is inconsistent with the Constitution shall be invalid to the extent of that inconsistency. It therefore means that if the President can assent to that Bill, he would be signing a dead law because it will remain invalid for contradicting the Constitution”.
Asked as to whether Parliament has no hope in bringing about this law, Denning suggested that “if the Parliament sees this amendment as crucial, the prudent way was/is amend the Constitution and not merely the Political Parties Act”.
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