MALAWI LAUNCHES CONSTITUTIONAL REVIEW

UNCLAS LILONGWE 000286



SIPDIS



SIPDIS

SENSITIVE



STATE FOR AF/S GABRIELLE MALLORY

STATE FOR INR/AA



E.O. 12958: N/A

TAGS: PGOV, KDEM, MI

SUBJ: MALAWI LAUNCHES CONSTITUTIONAL REVIEW



1. (U) Summary: On March 28 President Bingu wa Mutharika

opened Malawi's first Constitutional Review since the advent

of multiparty democracy in 1994. The 6-month review aims to

conduct a comprehensive examination of constitutional

problems that have arisen during the country's first decade

of democracy. Over 250 delegates will take part in the

conference, which will address issues such as the role of

the vice-president, the separation of powers, presidential

age limits, and local government elections. End Summary



2. (U) Opening the conference, Mutharika highlighted changes

to the "floor-crossing" law and local government elections

as two issues which he would like to see addressed. Taking

a pot-shot at European donors (principally Germany and

Norway, who have pushed the hardest for the long-delayed

local elections),Mutharika said "outsiders are dictating

what is done with local government elections," and instead

"we Malwians" should decide. He also called for the

conference delegates to address the separation of powers,

and the mandate of the judiciary to interpret the

constitution. The president noted that Malawi has amended

its constitution some 100 times since 1994, and exhorted

delegates to propose modifications that would make amending

the constitution a rarer occurrence.



3. (U) Poloffs met with Justice Elton Singini, Commissioner

of the Malawi Law Commission, on March 14 to discuss the

review process. Singini said the impetus for a review dates

back over two years, to when former vice-president Justin

Malewezi resigned from his party but maintained his

position, sparking a constitutional crisis in the waning

months of the Muluzi administration. The Law Commission has

since convinced current president Bingu wa Mutharika to

support the review, with the understanding that it will

serve as a wider, all-encompassing process.



4. (U) Singini singled out the recall provision, the

hiring/firing of vice-presidents, crossing the floor in

parliament, and presidential voting structures as some

issues that will garner the most attention in the review

process.



5. (U) After the initial conference, the Law Commission will

form a panel of experts to come up with proposed changes to

the constitution. They will then hold a second conference

in August to review the proposed changes.



6. (SBU) Following this second conference, the Law

Commission will will present the proposals to both

Parliament and the Cabinet. Government must then take the

changes to the floor of Parliament for passage. Government

is under no obligation to take all of the Law Commissions

proposals, and Singini in fact expects them to discard a

few.



7. (U) Most changes to constitution would then have to be

passed by a 2/3 majority in Parliament. However, some

sections of the constitution require a general referendum to

change them, something that Singini said he hopes to avoid

(primarily due to cost).



8. (SBU) Comment: As reported previously (reftel),the

entire review process could well be hijacked by political

issues of the day. Mutharika, while calling for Malawians

to put aside "old grudges", brought up one of the most

controversial issues (the floor-crossing provision) in his

opening speech, drawing both boos and cheers from the crowd.

(Note: If the floor-crossing provision is left in the

constitution, and the courts allow Parliament to enforce it,

Mutharika could lose up to half of his party's seats in

Parliament.)



9. (SBU) For his part, Singini himself seems to understand

the challenges the commission faces in effecting real

change. And as one of the framers of the current

constitution, he is in a good place to appreciate the

pitfalls and hurdles of this review process. End Comment.

GILMOUR