The Malawi Law Society (“the Law Society”) in exercise of its statutory mandate “to protect matters of public interest touching, ancillary or incidental to law” NOTING that the rule of law is an essential protection for the people of Malawi as a whole and is an assurance of limited and accountable government under the constitutional order.

The Malawi Law Society (“the Law Society” or “MLS”) in exercise of its statutory mandate under section 64(d) of the Legal Education and Legal Practitioners Act “to protect matters of public interest touching, ancillary or incidental to law” and noting the state of the law on public health in the wake of world-wide pandemic of corona virus and/or Covid-19, hereby delivers the present statement for urgent attention of all parties concerned and for the sake of protection of public health and the people of Malawi.

The Malawi Law Society is deeply shocked with the murder of Yasin Kwenda Phiri on 31 December 2018 in Nkhatabay District. It is a huge step backwards in the fight against these ritual related gruesome murders. As a nation, we seriously need to step up the fight against these regrettable acts. They are inhumane, unacceptable and retrogressive.  They put Malawi in bad light to the rest of the world especially considering that Malawi is a signatory to various international instruments on matters of human rights among other things.

The Malawi Law Society has noted with concern bubbling indications of poor governance, more particularly, apparent Government disregard of rule law, a critical facet of the foundation upon which our Constitution is crafted. The Society is deeply concerned about the possible implications on democratic governance in the country and, in that regard, wishes to make the following observations within its wider statutory mandate to protect and assist the public in Malawi on all matters touching, ancillary or incidental to the law.