Malawi: Appoint A 50-50 Cabinet – Gender Network Tells Mutharika

The NGO Gender Coordination Network (NGO GCN) has called upon re-elected Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika and the soon to be inaugurated Parliament to consider a 50-50 cabinet population and an appointment of a female Speaker of the National Assembly.

The appeal comes at a time when Mutharika and the Parliamentarians are expected to choose a new cabinet of ministers and a Speaker, respectively, after the presidential and parliamentary polls held in the sotuthern African state on May 19.

Mutharika, whose Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) had a landslide victory during the elections by scooping more than two-thirds of seats in the 193-member Parliament, has a prerogative to choose members that will form Malawi's new government, while the National Assembly is mandated to appoint the Speaker, according to the Republican Constitution.

Hence, the NGO GCN, a local network of organizations promoting equal opportunity to key decision-making positions in Malawi through the 50-50 national campaign, says although the country now has a female Vice President in the name of former Foreign Affairs minister Joyce Banda, Mutharika needs to consider equal distribution of ministerial portfolios to men and women the imminent administration.

Speaking during a media conference in Blantyre on Saturday, the NGO GCN executive director Emma Kaliya pointed out that "the 50-50 campaign was based on the equitable principle that Malawian women have as much right to be voted into office as Malawian men, [therefore] we call upon the State President to achieve 50 percent in the female cabinet population."

Kaliya, a revolutionary gender activist, added, "Parties that have won representation in the soon to be inaugurated Parliament and the new Parliamentarians [have] to show their commitment to women issues by electing a full female Speaker."

There are a lot of issues to do with women that are overlooked by male legislators in the Malawi Parliament and different stakeholders believe that once the National Assembly has equal representation between females and their counterpart MPs, most of the issues would be addressed without challenges.

Since independence, Malawi has never had a full female Speaker of the National Assembly, the only top position being First Deputies last held by Lillian Kapanda Phiri (1996-2000), Loveness Gondwe (2003-04) and Esther Mcheka-Nkhoma (2004-09).

Meanwhile, the organization observes that whilst the 50 percent has not been achieved, the figure has improved upon the last Parliamentary ratio.

"We are therefore re-enforced that the 50-50 campaign is bearing fruits and we undertake to keep the campaign on track until its ultimate goals are achieved," stated the NGO GCN chairperson, who was flanked by other campaign advocates namely Emmie Chanika, Steven Duwa, Unandi Banda and Rodgers Newa.

The newly elected 193-member Parliament has 42 female candidates, translating into a 22 percent women representation, with four Members retaining their seats from the previous legislative body, which initially had 27 female MPs but two passed away, meaning the representation was at 13 percent.

The results of the election indicate that President Mutharika's DPP has 31 female MPs elected into Parliament, Independents being 7, the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and the United Democratic Front (UDF) contributing 3 and 1, respectively.

According to Newa, who was leader of the local observers team for the network during the elections, "the NGO GCN mission observed that amongst the millions of Malawians who came out to vote [on May 19], many of them were women."

Therefore, Chanika, who is chairperson of the Permanent Committee of Women in Politics under the NGO GCN and also executive director of the Civil Liberties Committee (CILIC), observed that "the time has come for women to be given an opportunity to show what they can do in realizing the visions and goals of the State President."

The Constitution of the Republic of Malawi which came into effect on 18th May 1994 grants fundamental rights and freedoms to all regardless of sex and also prohibits discrimination on the grounds of gender and marital status.  The need for women to be represented in public office is also recognized.

As per the Southern African Development Committee (SADC) 1997 Declaration on Gender and Development, leaders in the region agreed to commit themselves and their respective countries to ensure the equal representation of women and men in the decision making and achieve at least 30 percent target of women in political and decision making structures by year 2005.

However, Malawi failed to achieve the committee's declaration and pushed the target to 2015, the year the country believes will be able to attain a 50 percent dispensation of key administrative positions to women.