Barely days after Malawi Presdient Peter Mutharika said he will call for a referendum on whether to legalize same sex marriage, the government says it also wants to conduct a referendum on whether to abolish the death penalty in the penal code or not.
According to the country's Attorney General Kalekeni Kaphale, government could not make a judgment on its own on the matter saying that is why it wants the citizens of the country to make a ruling on whether the penalty should be eliminated in a referendum or let the members of parliament mark the way forward.
Reacting to the development, Executive Director of Centre for Human Rights and Rehabiliation (CHRR), Timothy Mtambo, was quick to say that the penalty needs to be abolished as it violates the rights of the people.
Mtambo said Malawi is a democratic country and it could sound awkward to maintain the death sentence in the penal code.
Over the past 2 decades, both international and local human rights defenders have pressurised the giovernment to abolish the death penalty.
Since attaining democracy in 1994, Malawi has never executed a death sentence on any convict despite the penalty in the country's Penal Code.
Source: malawi24.com, Sept. 8, 2015
