Eight years after the enactment of the Political Parties Act (PPA), government has finally gazetted regulations to facilitate its implementation, in the process giving authorities powers to enforce the law.
The development means that the Registrar of Political Parties can now enforce the prohibition of handouts by politicians during election campaign. Ironically, this has come almost a month to the start of the official campaign period for the September 16 General Election.
Named Political Parties (Complaints Handling) Regulations, they were published on May 23 2025 in the Malawi Government Gazette Supplement, an official publication of notices coming into force.
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In an interview yesterday, Registrar of Political Parties Kizito Tenthani said the move demonstrated the government’s commitment to see the law enforced.
He said his office is currently engaging leaders of political parties to brief them on what is expected of them in relation to compliance to the law.
Tenthani said they are now ready to enforce compliance to the Act.
He said: “I will be holding a press briefing very soon to inform the public on what the office will be doing, and its state of preparedness. But I thought that I should engage the leaders first so that we can clarify a few things.
“I have already met the Malawi Congress Party. Today [Wednesday], I will be meeting Dr. Joyce Banda of People Party. I am expecting to meet Professor Peter Mutharika [of Democratic Progressive Party] and the rest of the leaders of political parties that are represented in Parliament within this week and next week.”
Tenthani said they started with leaders of parties in Parliament because they have a lot more demands on them, but he will meet leaders of all the 24 registered political parties.
Among others, the regulations detail how individuals can lodge a complaint with the registrar in relation to issuance of handouts and how the complaints can be handled.
The registrar is expected to acknowledge receipt of any complaint within 72 hours, protect the identity of the complainant and within seven days determine whether to admit the complaint.
Further, the registrar is empowered to investigate an alleged contravention of the Act based on a complaint lodged under regulation or on his motion where the registrar has reasonable cause that a person has violated or is likely to violate the law.
While the registrar is mandated to inform the person accused of contravening the Act within seven days after commencement of investigation, the person has 30 days to respond.
The Political Parties Act defines handouts as transactions whereby political parties, bodies, candidates or any other person distribute private goods, cash, gifts and other items to a person as an enticement to vote for the political party or the candidate.
However, campaign materials, facilitation of political party meetings or activities such as transport refunds for candidates’ entourage, transport refunds for entourage, meals for entourage or entertainment and unpublicised religious obligations and offerings do not constitute handouts.
Reacting to the gazetting of the regulations, private practice lawyer Khwima Mchizi in an interview yesterday said there is now no excuse for non-enforcement by the registrar.
“The expectation is that he will unleash the law on errant politicians. We can only hope that the registrar will not abdicate his duties,” he said.
National Initiative for Civic Education Public Trust executive director Gray Kalindekafe said they expect the registrar to maintain independence and have the capacity to enforce the law effectively.
He said: “This includes sanctioning violations such as unauthorised handouts and financial misconduct.
“Government should prioritise the operationalisation of the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties by recruiting adequate staff, and securing adequate funding and resources to enable effective enforcement and ensure it has adequate authority.”
In a separate interview, Political Science Association spokesperson Mabvuto Bamusi said to make the law effective, government should implement strategies for ending poverty which is the main incentive for handouts.
Section 41 (1) of the Act prohibits any candidate, political party or person contesting in an election from issuing handouts.
Under Subsection (3) of the same section, a person who contravenes Subsection (1) commits an offence, and shall, upon conviction, be liable to a fine of K10 million and to imprisonment for five years.
