NGOs object to Amendment Bill

A Bill that seeks to establish a new regulatory authority for Malawi’s NGOs has been heavily criticised. The NGOs have served Parliament with an injunction restraining it from debating the NGO Act Amendment Bill until it is reviewed, but lawmakers are digging their heels in. Voice of America reports that NGOs currently elect members to a board that regulates their operations. Under the new law, the board would be replaced by an NGO Authority, whose members would be appointed by a Cabinet Minister. Charles Kajoloweka, an executive member of the Human Rights Defenders Coalition, a grouping of NGOs protesting the Bill, said it empowered the NGO Authority to suspend and deregister organisations. The proposed legislation would raise the penalty fee imposed on an NGO flouting the law from $70 to $20 000, and would impose a seven-year jail term on NGO leaders who breach of the law.