Although government is still making consultations with various stakeholders including members of the public on government’s proposed changes to the national flag, the bill to change the flag was already drafted last year.

Ministry of Justice Chief Parliamentary Draftsperson, Fiona Kalemba referred Malawi News to Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) when asked about the bill that was drafted last year.

“At this stage I think you need to enquire from OPC. They are the ones who have the bill. What was remaining is the information we saw in the press…that they are calling for submissions from the public,” she said.

Asked when the bill was submitted to OPC, Kalemba said: “There was no formal submission. It’s a policy that is being developed. I don’t know if at this point we can talk about a bill. But, of course, we can’t change a flag without a bill”.

When asked what would happen to the bill that was supposed to be tabled in December, Kalemba whose department is responsible for drafting all government bills said: That decision will have to be made by OPC.

“But there was no bill for the December sitting anyway… at least, not for discussion. You could say it was a draft”. She referred the matter to her boss, Solicitor General Anthony Kamanga.

Kamanga was asked to confirm that government already drafted a bill to change the flag even before the public gave their views on the matter.

Said he: “No, we haven’t processed a bill. We drafted something from the initial instructions that we had. But then it was felt that we should do further consultations and that’s where we are.

“We haven’t had any other instructions. In fact, we should not even talk of a draft because that was a working document. The office that instructed us to do the initial draft instructed us to wait because there were consultations going on,” he said.

Information Minister Reckford Thotho said in an interview the decision on whether or not to change the flag would be decided based on the outcome of the on-going consultation process about which he could not give a deadline after the initial January 31, 2010 deadline was extended.

“What we are saying is that we have to first see the views of the public. Depending on the outcome government can go ahead or not. It will abide by the wishes of the public.

“We are still soliciting views and a cut-off date will be announced to the nation. The procedures will be announced. Of course some people have got a feeling that immediately we solicit the views we should immediately announce the results. It will eventually end up in Parliament for discussion,” Thotho said.

Government intends to change the flag to reflect the changes that have taken place in the country in terms of development. The development has attracted mixed views from various stakeholders and the general public.

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Bwana Nganga (65.162.87.1) 2010-03-08 01:15:10 Someone wants to make money out of the change Reply 0   0

My opinion Mzonde (41.221.97.2) 2010-05-24 09:50:32 Why change the flag to reflect full independence and development? You can not have these when 40% of your budget is funded by donors. It is all that simple thinking. My be change the sun to rise alitle bit to 60% because we can afford 60% of our budget. Full independence and development, what a joke of the year. Reply 0   0

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