Disability bodies, UN oppose Constitution
Disability welfare organisations and the United Nations (UN) have criticised the country’s Constitution for infringing on the voting rights of some sections of people with disabilities, demanding a repeal of a ‘discriminatory’ part.
The cited part falls under Section 77 (3) which reads in part: “No person shall be qualified for registration as a voter in a constituency if that person – under any law in force in the Republic adjudged or otherwise declared to be mentally incompetent.”
The Disabled Women Africa (Diwa) stoked the fire last year when it filed a report to the United Nations (UN) Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (Cedaw) in which it argued that the provision discriminated against people with disabilities.
“The Constitution of Malawi states that all persons shall be eligible to vote in any general election, by-election, presidential election, local government election or referendum.
“However, there are some exceptions to this. Persons who are ‘mentally incompetent’ shall not be qualified to register as voters.
“[There is a need] for legislative reform to abolish provisions that state that persons with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities [persons of ‘unsound mind’] are not eligible to vote or hold public office,” reads the report.
Meanwhile, the Federation of Disability Organisations in Malawi (Fedoma) has told Nation on Sunday that it has joined the cause and filed its complaint to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
“As Fedoma, we also submitted two reports to the UN; the first one to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. We had another submission, the Cedaw one, which we jointly submitted with Diwa which was reviewed in October.
“In both reports, this issue was presented for government to repeal that provision. We believe that the provision is discriminatory and does not deserve space in our Constitution,” said Fedoma executive director Simon Munde.
On its part, the State funded Malawi Council for the Handicapped (Macoha) in a response to our questionnaire on Friday also criticised the provision.
Macoha executive director George Chiusiwa said: “There is urgent need for Malawi to repeal all provisions in the country’s laws that deny persons with disabilities, particularly those with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities, the right to political participation for being deemed as lacking legal capacity under the guise of mental incompetence.”
Responding to Diwa report, the UN has said it has noted with concern “the existence of legislation that denies persons with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities the enjoyment of their right to vote.
“The committee recommends that the State party, in close consultation with…Review all legislation, including the Constitution, to recognise the right of persons with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities to vote and to stand for election,” reads the UN concluding observations.
The observations report which has been published on UN website https://www.ohchr.org/en/ comes on the back of its review of the country’s pro-women rights organisations and government reports which was conducted last October.
However, government, in its report responding to queries raised in women rights reports, opposes calls to amend the Constitution to abolish the provision.
MEC director of media and public relations Sangwani Mwafulirwa said they do not have expertise to declare someone to be mentally incompetent.
“For one to be barred from registering as a voter it must be based on an assessment of a registered mental health practitioner attesting to that the person is mentally incompetent,” he said.
