Malawi’s Centre for Multiparty Democracy (CMD) members have appealed to President Bingu Wa Mutharika to reject the Local Government Bill recently passed by the National Assembly, that would give the president powers to decide when to hold local government polls.
The Bill, among others, grants power to the President to choose the date for the local polls. Currently, the polls are expected to be held in May of the following year after parliamentary and presidential elections, according to the law.
CMD Chairperson Khwauli Msika said during a Consultative Conference for Local Government Elections in Lilongwe : “We can say that there is already lack of political will at the center looking at where we are coming from. We conducted local polls sometime back in 2000, up to date there is nothing tangible concerning the latter.”
He added that the bill introduced a serious layer of unpredictability of having the polls and implementation which are contrary to the qualities of a good law, hence good governance.
He therefore called upon the President to leave matters of choosing a date for local polls to the electoral body in accordance with the current law.
In spite of these concerns, Minister for Local Government Goodall Gondwe has assured the nation of having local polls before December 2010.
Source African Press Agency
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