Africa-Press – Malawi. President Lazarus Chakwera has granted pardons to 156 prisoners, the Ministry of Homeland Security has confirmed. The prisoners have been pardoned as a show of goodwill by the president as the country is celebrating 57 years of independence.
According to Minister of Homeland Security, Richard Chimwendo Banda prisoners that committed minor offences and those whose sentences were coming to an end are the ones who have been.
President Lazarus Chakwera has handed out pardons to 52 prisoners as part of Easter celebrations. Minister of Homeland Security has announced the pardons saying prisoners released under the presidential pardon are reformed convicts who committed minor offenses.
Chakwera was elected president in June last year and in August he pardoned 499 prisoners to reduce congestion in prisons amid the Coronavirus pandemic. During the Christmas and New Year festivities, Chakwera also pardoned 787 prisoners from various facilities across the country.
Chapter 89 (2) of the Constitution gives the president power to “pardon convicted offenders, grant stays of execution of sentence, reduce sentences, or remit sentences.
It requires that this should be done in consultation with an Advisory Committee on the Granting of Pardon, the composition and formation of which shall be determined by an Act of Parliament.
