The High Court of Malawi on Tuesday concluded hearing of submissions from Malawi Law Society (MLS) and Registrar of Political Parties in a judicial review case regarding access to information on political party funding.
MLS applied for judicial review following the registrar’s failure to provide information on political party funding sources.
During hearing in Blantyre, the registrar, represented by Chrispin Kalusa from the Attorney General’s chambers, said the information was not given out because regulations for providing the same were not in place at the time.
But MLS president Patrick Mpaka counterargued that the registrar cannot rely on such regulations to prevent a constitutional and statutory right already given by the law.
Judge Mike Tembo is expected to make a ruling on the matter at a date to be set.
In an interview yesterday, Mpaka said they will wait for the decision of the court on the scope of the Political Parties Act, Access to Information Act and the Constitution in terms of access to information relating to political party funding.
In July and September 2 0 2 1 , M L S w r o t e the registrar seeking information on political party financiers in the election period between 2019 and 2020.
However, the registrar did not provide the information, prompting MLS to apply for a judicial review of the decision.
Section 27 (2) of the Political Parties Act compels political parties to declare to the registrar any donation with a monetary value of at least K1 000 000 from an individual donor.
