Just two months after Parliament defeated a constitutional amendment that would have allowed President Bakili Muluzi a third term in office, the government announced on Tuesday it was trying again.
The third-term debate has split the country, with many opponents arguing Muluzi was trying to restore the country’s dictatorship.
Supporters argued Malawians should have the opportunity to vote for Muluzi again after his second five-year term ends in 2004.
In a July 4 vote, Parliament came three votes short of the two-thirds needed to amend the constitution to allow Muluzi to run again.
Henry Dama Phoya, Malawi’s justice minister and attorney general said on Tuesday the government would introduce another constitutional amendment to allow presidents a third term.
Under the proposal, any future changes to the term limits section of the constitution would be subject to a national referendum.
”We can’t escape the fact that people still want … Muluzi,” Phoya said.
But many religious leaders were furious at the announcement.
”We are going to fight this,” said Howard Nkhoma, chairman of the Malawi Council of Churches.
Religious leaders, who helped pressure Parliament to reject the first amendment, promised to mobilise Malawians to do it again. Muluzi had earlier said he planned to retire at the end of his second term under pressure from his family. – Sapa-AP