Malawi’s ex-president Muluzi urges government to respect rule of law

Malawi’s former President Bakili Muluzi on Sunday urged government to respect the rule of law in order to consolidate democracy in the country.

Addressing a political rally in Chiradzulu, a district 30 km east of the commercial city of Blantyre, Muluzi said the government should not take the hard-worn democracy backwards by deliberately breaking the country’s laws.

This was in apparent reference to the government’s insistence that the country’s parliament should pass the budget instead of discussing the country’s constitution and its section 65.

The former leader, accused by government of being behind the impasse in parliament over section 65 which calls for the dismissal of MPs who defected to the government side in May 2004, said this part of the law was meant to safeguard democracy.

"This is a pillar of multiparty politics in the country. Without this section our democracy would collapse," Muluzi told his supporters.

He said he was aware of government plans to pass the budget first and then adjourn the House without ever discussing the issue of the defections at all.

"This is why my (former ruling United Democratic Front) party and other oppositions are insisting that the debates on the budget and Section 65 should go concurrently," he said.

Muluzi blamed government for politicising the defections when the matter was only a constitutional issue.

Unless discussing the defections was made a priority in parliament, UDF MPs would continue to boycott passing the national budget when the House resumes sitting Monday afternoon, Muluzi vowed to the delight of his supporters.