Malawi - December 2025

On 4 December, Malawi’s parliament passed a draft law that would have constitutionally entrenched its members’ control over a corruption-marred development fund, had it not been vetoed by President Peter Mutharika on 6 January. The private member’s bill, which enjoyed overwhelming cross-party support (199 of the 224 MPs voted in favour), sought to insert into the constitution provisions allowing MPs to manage the Constituency Development Fund (CDF). This directly contravened a recent Constitutional Court ruling that had found such an arrangement breached the doctrine of separation of powers and was therefore unconstitutional. It also contradicted the position of the government which, weeks earlier, had announced it had withdrawn its appeal against the court ruling. Further, the bill was passed in defiance of fresh evidence of corruption and mismanagement of CDF-funded projects, published in a November civil society report. 

Sources: Parliament of Malawi, Malawi 24, The Nation, Mail & Guardian, Nyasa Times