Legislator for Mzimba North, Yeremiah Chihana, has described the amendment of Political Parties Bill as a tool for the re-introduction of a one-party state.

Chihana made the sentiments in Parliament after the Legal Affairs Committee of the House presented a report on the Bill which was referred to the Committee for a scrutiny.

According to Chihana, requesting political parties to align their manifestos to the national development agenda as a catalyst for registration is wrong.

He said: “We don’t want to silently create a one party state again using documents that are uncalled for, not legitimate, not constitutionally bound and which are not act of parliament.”

Chihana argued that the recently unveiled Malawi 2063 initiative has not been adopted by the National Assembly and it is both illegal and wrong to expect parties to align their manifestos to the national vision.

“Trying to align the new Political Parties Bill to a conventional of Malawi 2063 vision is wrong because the initiative has not been adopted by Parliament.

“It has never come to Parliament, it is just a statement of intent and what should be achieved and that it is different from a political party legislation,” said Chihana.

But reacting to Chihana’s assertions, the Committee’s Chairperson, Peter Dimba, said some members are failing to understand the contents in the amendment.

“Actually is just a misunderstanding because what is contained in the Bill is for new political parties to be registered and have a manifesto that align with the Malawi 2063 vision,” said Dimba.

The major objective of the proposed Bill is to amend the Political Parties Act to provide for a requirement for political party manifestos to be aligned to the national development agenda in order to ensure progressive attainment of the national development agenda.