Age Bill submission to Parliament fails as presenter goes ‘missing’

Police have launched a manhunt following the alleged abduction of Agape Khombe, leader of Citizens for Justice and Equity, hours before his group planned to submit a petition and a contentious Presidential Age Limit Bill to Parliament yesterday. 

Khombe, 39, was reportedly seized by three unidentified men at Arusha Bottle Store, a drinking place near Wakawaka Hotel in Lilongwe’s Kaphiri area, at around 9pm on Thursday.

National Police spokesperson Peter Kalaya said in an interview yesterday that Khombe’s colleague, Gift Chunga, on Thursday night filed an official complaint at Lilongwe Police Station following the incident.

Kalaya said: “We have opened a formal investigation and are pursuing all leads to locate Khombe and apprehend the suspects.”

But, in an interview yesterday, Parliament spokesperson Ian Mwenye expressed scepticism about the petition’s viability.

Said Mwenye: “Even if such a Bill comes before the House, it may be difficult to have such a Bill finalised before the House rises. The petition route, in my view, is a rather long process that they are opting for if the ultimate goal is for a Bill to amend the Constitution.

“By the way, they would need 128 MPs or more at the third reading voting in the affirmative if it comes to that.”

Mwenye explained that petitioners must also identify a willing recipient who will receive it and then present it in the House after the Business Committee has scrutinised it for compliance with the Standing Orders.

He added that the petition must adhere to the format of petitions as in Appendix IV of Standing Orders which requires that valid signatures and contact details of the petitioners must also be attached to the petition.

“The exact action sought by the petitioners should be stated clearly on every page of the petition. Once approved, the petition will be put on notice paper waiting for a Thursday during Private Members Day.”

The ‘abduction’ has cast a shadow over the group’s bid to propose constitutional reforms, including lowering the presidential candidacy age from 35 to 30 and imposing an upper age limit of 80—a move critics and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) claim targets former president Peter Mutharika, 84, who is the party’s presumptive candidate in the September 16 2025 General Election.

But earlier Khombe said: “We expect the Bill to be tabled probably next week Thursday. We were also surprised that Thyolo Thava legislator Mary Navicha (DPP)] went to court seeking an injunction even before the Bill was sent to Parliament.

“That delayed us as we wanted to see the end of that case. We have now been cleared to present the petition and proposed Bill on Friday, March 7 2024. We have been engaging youth and parties informing them of the details and essence of the Bill.”

In the said case, Navicha asked the High Court to grant an injunction restraining the Speaker of the National Assembly or her deputies from presiding over the debate of the Bill, until a further order of the court or pending the final determination of the matter.

But Justice Kenyatta Nyirenda, in his ruling on February 27, said the case ought to have been brought by way of judicial review, and eventually, he struck out the action by the claimant for improper commencement.

Nyirenda ruled: “Having dismissed the main action, the application for an order of interlocutory injunction, being parasitic in nature [see the Siskina] (1979) A.C 21 and Channel Tunnel Group Limited v. Balfour Batty Construction Limited [1993] AC 334), has also to be dismissed and it is so dismissed.”

In an earlier interview, Leader of Opposition George Chaponda, who is also a member of DPP, argues that the Bill is targeting Mutharika, which the main opposition party will not accept.

Chaponda warned: “Let them bring the Bill if they want this country to go to hell. Very shortly we will be declared as a failed State, and yet we don’t put our priorities right. Why waste time on these things? The Constitution is very clear on the minimum and maximum age, why try to change?”

Leader of the House in Parliament, who is also Malawi Congress Party (MCP) secretary general Richard Chimwendo Banda, said his party does not support the Bill.

He said: “As MCP, we have never thought of such a Bill, never discussed it [and] if it comes to Parliament, we will shoot it down.

“In fact, we will shoot down its motion even before the Bill is presented. We want to face Mutharika on the ballot because he created the mess the country finds itself in.”

Earlier, Malawi Law Society president Patrick Mpaka said the Constitution in Section 87 addresses issues of capability of a President and Vice-President, as such there is no constitutional gap that the proposed amendment seeks to address.

Private practice lawyer Justin Dzonzi said the Bill would fall under Private Bill, where an individual or institution works behind the scenes and submits it to a legislator who can then present it in Parliament.

“If MPs will require more consultations, then they will let the Legal Affairs Committee do that, because in our jurisdiction, a list of consultations is not a requirement, we just need a memorandum explaining the essence of the Bill,” he explained.

In 2017, a report by the Special Law Commission on Electoral Reforms said it would be difficult to justify such an exclusion based on age where a potential candidate was, for all relevant purposes, fit and able to execute the functions of an elected office.

Further, the Constitutional Review Report of 2007 also looked at the matter and felt that this was a political issue best left to the political process.