These were subordinate to the High Court, and subject to legislation giving the guarantee of a fair trial, including the right to legal representation and the right to appeal to the High Court. After independence in 1964, Banda, who was then Prime Minister, and the Minister of Justice Orton Chirwa began to criticise such principles of English-based law as the Presumption of innocence, the need to establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt and the requirement for corroborating evidence.
The political manipulation of the Traditional Courts is shown in the high-profile trials of in 1976 of Albert Muwalo, Secretary General of the Malawi Congress Party and Focus Gwede, Head of the Police Special Branch, on a charge of attempting to assassinate President Banda, and the 1983 treason trial of Orton Chirwa, who was Minister of Justice until the Cabinet Crisis of 1964 and his wife, Vera Chirwa.
Malawi began as a one-party state in 1964, with the MCP being the only party until 1993.
Banda (who had become President in 1966) said that, if the judge had any conscience, he should resign and specifically linked traditional law to making punishment certain, claiming that lack of evidence was not proof of innocence. From 1970, the system of Traditional Courts was transformed.
Malawi's judicial system, based on the English model, is made up of magisterial lower courts, a High Court, and a Supreme Court of Appeal. Until 1969, Malawi retained a system of justice based on the colonial model, which followed the principles of English law as amended by the laws of Malawi.
In 1969, the acquittal of five defendants in the first Chilobwe murders trial caused outrage although, as another individual was later found guilty of all these murders in a second trial, this anger was misplaced.
Banda (who had become President in 1966) said that, if the judge had any conscience, he should resign and specifically linked traditional law to making punishment certain, claiming that lack of evidence was not proof of innocence. From 1970, the system of Traditional Courts was transformed.
Any appeals were directed to a National Traditional Court of Appeal rather than the Malawi High Court, as had been the case before 1970.
They were not given a summary of the charges against them before the trial, so could not prepare a defence. During the 1970s and 1980s, the Traditional Courts gained a reputation for being used to prosecute Banda's political opponents and of being corrupt.
The political manipulation of the Traditional Courts is shown in the high-profile trials of in 1976 of Albert Muwalo, Secretary General of the Malawi Congress Party and Focus Gwede, Head of the Police Special Branch, on a charge of attempting to assassinate President Banda, and the 1983 treason trial of Orton Chirwa, who was Minister of Justice until the Cabinet Crisis of 1964 and his wife, Vera Chirwa.
They were not given a summary of the charges against them before the trial, so could not prepare a defence. During the 1970s and 1980s, the Traditional Courts gained a reputation for being used to prosecute Banda's political opponents and of being corrupt.
The political manipulation of the Traditional Courts is shown in the high-profile trials of in 1976 of Albert Muwalo, Secretary General of the Malawi Congress Party and Focus Gwede, Head of the Police Special Branch, on a charge of attempting to assassinate President Banda, and the 1983 treason trial of Orton Chirwa, who was Minister of Justice until the Cabinet Crisis of 1964 and his wife, Vera Chirwa.
In both cases, unsubstantiated evidence was admitted to secure convictions and all four were sentenced to death on flimsy evidence, although only Muwalo was ultimately executed. During the transition to democracy, the operation of the three regional Traditional Courts and the National Traditional Appeal Court was suspended indefinitely in October 1993, which amounted in practice to their abolition.
Malawi began as a one-party state in 1964, with the MCP being the only party until 1993.
Due to this internal and external pressure Banda agreed to hold a national referendum in 1993 where the nation voted to become a multi-party state.
The government of Malawi has been a multi-party democracy since 1994.
The members of the cabinet of Malawi can be drawn from either within or outside of the legislature. Bakili Muluzi was president from 21 May 1994 to May 2004, having won reelection in 2000 with 51.4% of the vote to leading challenger Gwandaguluwe Chakuamba's 44.3% for the MCP-AFORD party.
When the new Constitution came into force on 18 May 1994, it recognised customary law as an integral part of the legal system and converted many of the local, lower level Traditional Courts into Magistrates’ courts.
The first multi-party elections occurred in 1994 in which the UDF won votes as the first administration under a multi-party system under Bakili Muluzi.
Malawi is now a multi -party nation with 40 registered parties but only a few prominent ones. ===Elections=== Elections in Malawi have been held every five years since 1994.
==Executive branch== Under the 1995 constitution, the president, who is both chief of state and head of the government, is chosen through universal direct suffrage every 5 years.
The members of the cabinet of Malawi can be drawn from either within or outside of the legislature. Bakili Muluzi was president from 21 May 1994 to May 2004, having won reelection in 2000 with 51.4% of the vote to leading challenger Gwandaguluwe Chakuamba's 44.3% for the MCP-AFORD party.
Local elections, the first in the multi-party era, took place on November 21, 2000.
The constitution also originally provided for a second house, a Senate of 80 seats, but to date no action has been taken to create the Senate, and the provisions allowing for its creation were deleted in 2001.
The members of the cabinet of Malawi can be drawn from either within or outside of the legislature. Bakili Muluzi was president from 21 May 1994 to May 2004, having won reelection in 2000 with 51.4% of the vote to leading challenger Gwandaguluwe Chakuamba's 44.3% for the MCP-AFORD party.
In the 2004 election Bingu wa Mutharika defeated Chakuamba by a ten-point margin. ===Current Executive=== The President of Malawi and the current executive branch is supported by appointed members of a Cabinet of Malawi and government agencies in Malawi. In 2020 Malawi Constitutional Court annulled president Peter Mutharika’s narrow election victory and re-election because of irregularities.
It also provided for a new system of Traditional Courts but no legislation to set up such courts was introduced before 2011.
The 2011 legislation provided for two levels of customary law courts: several Local Courts were established in each of Malawi's 27 districts, mainly in rural areas, and one District Appeals Local Court in each district (to hear appeals from the Local Courts).
In the 2004 election Bingu wa Mutharika defeated Chakuamba by a ten-point margin. ===Current Executive=== The President of Malawi and the current executive branch is supported by appointed members of a Cabinet of Malawi and government agencies in Malawi. In 2020 Malawi Constitutional Court annulled president Peter Mutharika’s narrow election victory and re-election because of irregularities.
Opposition leader Lazarus Chakwera won 2020 Malawian presidential election and he became the new president. |President |Lazarus Chakwera |Malawi Congress Party |28 June 2020 |} ==Legislative branch== The National Assembly has 193 members, elected for a five-year term in single-seat constituencies.
All text is taken from Wikipedia. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License .
Page generated on 2021-08-05