New MHRC commissioners sworn in

Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Samuel Tembenu has warned new commissioners of the Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) against behaving like civil society organizations (CSOs) but to match their language with output at the taxpayer funded human rights watchdog.

Tembenu said this when he swore in the sixth cohort of commissioners that includes Bertha Sefu, media practitioners Baldwin Chiyamwaka and the Reverend Patrick Semphere, disaster risk management specialist Steven Nkoka, lawyer Justin Kusamba-Dzonzi and economist Dalitso Kubalasa at the ministry’s headquarters in Lilongwe yesterday. On criticism about the selection of the commissioners, the minister said people who were supposed to make nominations did not respond positively as out of 204 organisations, only 39 responded and most of them nominated few women. MHRC is mandated to investigate violations of human rights on its own motion or upon complaints received from any person, class of person or body. In the picture, the commissioners pose for a group photo with the minister and Hiwa after taking their oaths of office.—REBECCA CHIMJEKA, News Analyst