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President of the Republic of Malawi Lazarus Chakwera
The President of the Republic of Malawi, Lazarus Chakwera, has assented to the Ombudsman Amendment Bill, effective 1 February 2024.
A statement from the State House of Malawi indicates that the Ombudsman bill is among the eight other Bills that the President has assented to.
This implies that once the bill is gazette, the Office of the Ombudsman will be guided by the Amended Ombudsman Act. Accordingly, Ombudsman Grace Malera is a strengthened by the Legal Framework for the operations of her office.
Honorable Malera hailed the Malawi Leader for signing the Bill into law which among other things provides clarity on the broadened mandate of the Office in terms of which organs of government can be investigated.
She also thanked the team spirit that all officers in the Office demonstrated during all the stages of the bill.
“The new law also allows the Office of the Ombudsman to commence investigations on matters of public interests on own motion. It also makes provision for whistle blowers and informants to bring issues to the Office of the Ombudsman and the protection of such whistle blowers and informants, among other things. With these Amendments, there is now a strengthened legal framework for the operations of the Ombudsman,” she said.
Malera added that amendments in the Act are very progressive provisions on the jurisdiction of the Ombudsman and an effective enforcement mechanism for the Determinations of the Ombudsman.
On 11 December 2023, the Malawi Parliament passed the Ombudsman Amendment Bill into Law.
The Office of the Ombudsman with support of the EU Chilungamo Programme carried out extensive stakeholder consultation processes to come up with the proposals for the amendments.
Source: Office of the Ombudsman, Malawi
