Laws and policies to be revisited

In the manner the Malawi ship is being steered, there are several flaws. This is particularly so in the statutory and moral laws and these deserve review.

The Law Commission should review labour or employment statutes to make sure they are fair to both workers and employers. In principle, an employer must pay the employee an agreed and fair wage or salary for work done. If the employee absents himself or herself from work, the employer is not legally obliged to pay them for the time they are absent from work, except when the reasons are excusable, such as illness or force majeure.

Force majeure are events beyond the control of the employee. For example, flash floods destroy the bridges on the road that joins the worker’s place of work and place of residence.

The right of workers to go on strike in order to secure better conditions of service should be respected. But is it fair to employers that they should keep paying employees who are absent from work because they are on strike? To continue paying such workers is to encourage them to be uncompromising in negotiations.

Trade unions were first started in industrialised countries, especially in Britain, the cradle of the Industrial Revolution. There, trade union members used to subscribe to a strike fund. This was the fund from which those who were on strike were paid. Employers had no obligation to pay those on strike.

The spate of strikes that has become intermittent in Malawi is encouraging industrial indiscipline. Where there is no discipline, there will be chaos and lack of development. The Law Commission must revisit the law in such a manner that wrangles between employers and employees do not ruin third parties.

Suppose peasant farmers gave Admarc and other buyers of maize an ultimatum to double the prices which they offer to buy maize or use risk non-supply. And suppose for months the farmers indeed refuse to sell their maize to produce buyers. Would life be the same for urban dwellers?

Recently, a man who was arrested for impersonating a doctor was sentenced to six years imprisonment with hard labour. Before him, a person in the Cashgate drama was sentenced to three years imprisonment for stealing over K60 million. Two others were sentenced to seven and nine years for stealing K40 million or more. In 2004 or 2005, a prominent figure in politics was sentenced to five years imprisonment for embezzling less than K180 000 despite the fact that he promptly repaid it. Some senior officials have been sentenced to several years for abuse of office from which they did not benefit while others have been given only suspended sentence.

These anomalies must be rectified. Under democracy, it is said that people are equal before the law. But the discretion given to magistrates in pronouncing verdicts makes this equality nebulous.

If everyone is hoping that our beloved country will in future be spared the mega evil called Cashgate, remember someone said that to be sure you have killed a snake, cut off its head. This means do something drastic.

With regard to the Cashgate, the Law Commission should propose to the legislature more deterrent retributions. Let the current accused be tried according to the law as it exists but those who raid the coffers of the State should be given stiffer sentences.

Compensation regarding abrupt terminations of contracts, whether of personal or commercial services, are at present ruining the finances of the government in Malawi. They should be reviewed.

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Fulmination against gender and child violence resonate from time to time. Statutory laws or courts alone cannot make people behave morally. Religious institutions should embark on moral rearmament.

It would be helpful if the academic in the field of social science investigates the causes of these anti-social behaviours. With the help of police records, the social scientists should find out the background and age of rapists, child abusers and those who engage in gender violence. Counselling or sermons would therefore be based on fuller understanding of the milieu. More fulminations through the media are just like water on the back of a duck.