SATO BLOGS HERE, TAKULANDILANI MWAFIKA.

I just finished re-reading an essay Peter Mutharika wrote when he was Professor of Law at Washington University, St Louis, Missouri.  I first read it for a class assignment. This time, I read it out of curiosity following his speech at the launch of the Tsangano-Ntcheu-Mwanza road construction project.  I refuse to judge the President by one side of the story. So I read the essay to discover the President’s deeper side.  I believe he is a good thinker and able to put his thoughts in the simplest of terms as was the case when he was unpacking the concept of community technical colleges launched to offer the youth vocational skills. In The 1995 Democratic Constitution of Malawi the essay published in the Journal of African Law, Mutharika pulls no punches. He writes; “ Good governance will be possible if the people demand accountability and transparency from their government, if the government understands that it must act within the framework of the...

Malawians have looked up to the Judiciary no less than they have looked at politicians to end corruption. However, there is desperation in the people yearning for an end to the malpractice. One could see confirmation of my assumption recently when the country’s Vice President launched his United Transformation Movement. The crowd stayed relatively quiet until when he promised to deal with corrupt politicians and individuals when put into power.  That is a story for another day. Today, I write in agreement with Professor Danwood Chirwa’s article entitled “ A plea for the legal profession to cleanse itself” . As a preamble, let me bring to your attention dear reader the various points he makes.  Firstly, that the disciplinary system among lawyers is dysfunctional. This is based from the source of his article, a leaked conversation among lawyers where some lawyers admit corruption both in their practice and in their dealings (if at all they are different).  ...