Africa-Press – Malawi. The Malawi Law Society has issued a sharp rebuke of the sweeping powers held by the Director of Public Prosecutions, warning that the recent collapse of several high-profile corruption cases exposes dangerous weaknesses in Malawi’s justice system.
In unusually blunt remarks, the legal body says the law must be urgently amended to curb what critics describe as near-absolute prosecutorial authority that allows criminal cases to disappear with little explanation and virtually no judicial oversight.
The controversy follows the discontinuance of major criminal proceedings involving prominent figures, including Dalitso Kabambe, Henry Mathanga, Joseph Mwanamvekha, Jean Mathanga, Cliff Chiunda, and several others who had been facing corruption-related charges.
The cases were terminated after the DPP invoked constitutional powers to discontinue the prosecutions upon issuing a certificate—effectively ending the proceedings and leaving the courts powerless to challenge the decision.
Legal observers say that mechanism, originally designed to allow prosecutorial discretion, is increasingly being viewed as a blunt instrument capable of shielding powerful individuals from accountability.
Speaking to MIJ Online, Barney Semphani, the Malawi Law Society’s Central Region representative, said Parliament must urgently revisit the legal framework governing the DPP’s authority.
He warned that the current system gives prosecutors enormous latitude with little transparency or accountability.
According to Semphani, reforms should introduce meaningful checks and balances that allow judicial scrutiny where necessary.
But critics say the implications go beyond legal technicalities.
They argue that when corruption cases involving senior public officials collapse without public explanation, it sends a damaging message—that accountability in Malawi may depend less on the law and more on influence.
At an anti-corruption roundtable, Michael Kayiyatsa, chairperson of the National Anti-Corruption Alliance, warned that such decisions are steadily eroding the credibility of the country’s anti-corruption fight.
He said the sudden discontinuance of cases that had been active for years risks undermining public confidence in both investigators and prosecutors.
“The fight against corruption cannot succeed if cases collapse midway without clarity,” Kayiyatsa argued, adding that consistency and institutional resolve are critical in prosecuting economic crimes.
Meanwhile Mwandida Theu, Acting Head of Programmes at Youth and Society, said civil society groups are consolidating views gathered during the discussion to push for governance reforms.
She stressed that Malawi’s democratic system can only survive if public office is treated as a public trust—not as an opportunity for personal gain shielded by legal loopholes.
The growing backlash now places Parliament under pressure to decide whether the powers of the Director of Public Prosecutions should remain largely untouchable—or whether the law must finally be rewritten to ensure that the authority to stop prosecutions is no longer immune from scrutiny.
For many observers, the issue is no longer simply about legal procedure.
It is about whether the justice system can convincingly demonstrate that the powerful are not above the law.
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