Constitution of Malawi
(section 135(b))

Public Notice on the review of the Constitution

This notice is published following consultations with the Honourable Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and with the approval of His Excellency the State President.

The Malawi Constitution took effect on 18th May, 1994. It has thus been in operation for ten years since. During these ten inception years, it has come to light that a few aspects of the Constitution require to be reviewed.

Section 135 (b) of the Constitution provides that the Malawi Law Commission shall have the power "to review and make recommendations regarding any matter pertaining to the Constitution" and "to submit its findings and recommendations to the Minister of Justice who shall publish any such report and lay id before Parliament".

Pursuant to that mandate, the Commission intends to carry out a review of the Constitution limited in scope to only those provisions identified as inadequate to address issues that have arisen in the first ten years of the operation of the Constitution.

The process is planned to be in two phases.

First Phase
The first phase will be the holding of a national conference with broad participation of persons from a wide cross-section of Malawi society. The object of the national conference will be to provide a forum for representative groups of Malawi to express their views on aspects of the Constitution that will have been identified for review and to express their views on the Constitution generally. The views expressed at the conference, and the recommendations of the conference, will be properly documented and made public.

Second Phase
The second phase will be to constitute a special Law Commision to consider the views and recommendations of the national conference in proper context and to carry out the necessary review and make recommendations in a Law Reform Report to Parliament. The said special Law Commission will also have to be a broadly representative body of persons of various shades of opinion, background, expertise and interest and its membership will include representatives of the political parties in the Government and in the Opposition and civil society organizations.

Appeal for Support
For the review process, the Law Commission will require to receive the necessary level of support from the Government and the Malawi society. If donor support is required it will be sought and sourced from or through a multilateral donor, in particular the UNDP Resident Office in Malawi

Time Frame
It is planned to commence the review process in the first six months of the current Parliament and President term which has just began following the General Elections held on 20th May. The Constitution conference is planned to take place end of October / early November this year.

Call for Submissions
Following this public notice, members of the general public are invited to make written submission to the Law Commission pertaining to any matter in the Constitution to be considered for review. All submissions should be addressed to the Law Commissioner and sent or delivered to the following addresses: