BLANTYRE INTERNATONAL UNIVERSITY

NAME: HAPPY YAUKA KUMWENDA

PROGRAM: BCD

COURSE: HUMAN RIGHTS LAW

FACULTY: LAW

LECTURE: MR AUSMAN KENNEDY

FAILURE BY THE MALAWI GOVERNMENT TO FULLY PROTECTS RIGHTS OF ITS
CITIZENS

Human rights are moral principles or norms that describe certain standards of human behavior and
are regularly protected in municipal and international law1. Human rights are applicable
everywhere and at every time in a sense of being universal, and they are egalitarian in the sense of
being the same for everyone2. This essay will discuss how the Malawi government has failed over
the years to fully protect rights of its citizens.

Section 13(n)3 Economic Management to achieve a sensible balance between the creation and
distribution of wealth through the nurturing of a market economy and long-term investment in
health, education, economic and social development programs. 51.5% population lives below
poverty lines and 70.3%lives on less than $1.90 a day4. The government of Malawi has failed to
reduce the gap between the rich and the poor hence a lot of people living under poverty almost
51.5% of the population live below the poverty line and 70.3% live on less than $1.90 a day, this
c is due to lack of commitment in poverty reduction and poor tax policies which makes it hard for
Malawian do business hence high poverty rate.

Section 20(1)5 states that discrimination of persons in any form is prohibited and all persons are,
under any law, guaranteed equal and effective protection against discrimination on grounds of
race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin,
disability, property, birth or other status or condition. In Malawi LGBT rights are not respected
and those who are gays and lesbian and bisexual are totally discriminated and it is an offense for
a man to ge married with a man the popular case is that of auntie Tio, where they were sentenced
to 13 years imprisonment by the courts. Though section 2o emphasizes that no one should be
discriminated the gay society is highly discriminated. Even those living with HIV and AIDS are

1
James Nickel, with assistance from Thomas pogge.M.B.E. smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013,
Stanford Encyclopedia of philosophy, human rights retrieved 14 August 2014.
2
The united nations, office of the high commissioner of human rights, what are human rights? Retrieved
14 August 2014.
3
Constitution of republic of Malawi 1994.
4
World Economic Outlook Database, October 2019, IMF.org. retrieved 22 January 2020
5
Costitution of republic of Malawi 1994.
discriminated in the army service because if they found out that an applicant is HIV positive he is
expunged off immediately.

Section 24(2) (a) prohibits, sexual abuse, harassment and violence; in Malawi a lot of women faces
violence and property grabbing is one case which affect women suffer from this injustice from the
relatives of their deceased husband, though the law in Malawi protects women from this injustice,
but allot of women suffer this injustices in Malawi. For example the judiciary has expressed
dissatisfaction with the increase in property grabbing cases in phalombe this was posted on zodiac
online on 15 October where first grade magistrate for phalombe urged people to be writing will in
order to end this tendency.

section77.—(1) All persons shall be eligible to vote in any general election, by-election,
presidential election, local government election or referendum, subject only to this section. But
only those with the age of 18 are requested to vote in 2920 the supreme court stated that those who
registered in 2019 election were eligible to vote meaning that even though a person full filled all
the requirement which are in the constitution but they could not enjoy their right to vote is thy did
not register, this revocation affected those who were of age and willing to exercise their right to
vote but they could not because the supreme court revoked them from excersing their right to vote.

42.—(1) every person who is detained, including every sentenced prisoner, shall have the right—
(f) to be released if such detention is unlawful. A lot people in Malawi are held in prison even if
their dentation is unlawful even if they reach their custodial time limit a lot of people who don’t
know the law end up spending year in prison while waiting for the commencement of their trial
and in other circumstances they are denied bail by the police and they are not informed their rights
as the constitution provide. A lot of individual in Malawi has lost trust in the justice system as they
now believe that prisons are meant for poor people not those who are well to do in society this is
so due to lack of information or civic education concerning the justice system which tend to affect
a lot of people because they don’t know their rights and others can’t even afford to pay for legal
services to lawyers.
Section 13 (c) talks about Health to provide adequate health care, commensurate with the health
needs of Malawian society and international standards of health care. Though the constitution
states that government should provide good health care in Malawi but the government is not
making stride in the health sector. As of 2016 Malawi has only one qualified cardiologist
consultant who is based at a private hospital6. This clearly shows how the government fail to
protect rights of its citizen’s in order to acquire good health services in Malawi.

Section 25.—(1) states that all persons are entitled to education. In Malawi the dropout rate is
higher among girls than boys this is so worrying and government is not showing effort to curb this
gap. A lot of students in Malawi fail to pursue their university education due to high fees which is
a major factor for failure to attain university education and a lot of student who are left out from
public university cannot afford fees from private universities which are high as compared to the
economic status of Malawian citizens. The government introduced the Higher education loans
board but a lot of student don’t access those loans which make I harder for them to pursue
university education.

In conclusion this essay have fully explained how the Malawi government has failed tro fully
protect rights of its citizens in education, health, poverty, violence against women’s and others

6
Second generation, WHO country cooperation strategy,2008-2013, Malawi
REFERENCES
Constitution of Malawi
BOOKS
James Nickel, with assistance from Thomas pogge.M.B.E. smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December
2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of philosophy, human rights retrieved 14 August 2014.
The United Nations, office of the high commissioner of human rights, what are human rights?
Retrieved 14 August 2014.
Constitution of republic of Malawi 1994.
World Economic Outlook Database, October 2019, IMF.org. retrieved 22 January 2020

Second generation, WHO country cooperation strategy,2008-2013, Malawi