Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) that are against the tabling of the NGO Amendment Bill have penned the office of the Attorney General regarding the tabling of the bill in the August House.

This comes as parliament has gone ahead to table the NGO Amendment Bill which among others restrains the NGO’s from being engaged in active politics, despite the NGO’s getting a court injunction on the same.

The organizations which include Youth and Society (YAS), Centre for the Development of People (CEDEP) and Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR), are of the view that the bill was drafted and tabled without proper consultations.

According to a letter from Kawelo Lawyers addressed to the Attorney General, the three organizations have noted with concern that parliament has gone ahead to table the bill despite being served with a restraining order against the move pending a judicial review, which they say is an indicative of the clear intention of the Executive and Parliament to defy the court order.

The letter says the matter is still pending before the Supreme Court and that the order of stay has not been vacated or varied.

Furthermore the letter states that there have been several discussions to resolve the matter out of the court however they have not been fruitful.

As such they have demanded that the court order must be obeyed pending any discussions.

The institutions have also warned that parliament risks being in contempt of court if it proceeds to table the bill.

Meanwhile Executive Director for Youth and Society (YAS), Charles Kajoloweka, has asked parliament to be exemplary in observing the law and respect the courts determination on the matter.

Apart from restricting people in the civil society sector from being engaged in active politics, the bill which was gazzetted in February this year among others also seeks to change the NGO Board into an Authority, remove the requirement that NGO’s have to be registered with Council of NGO in Malawi before registering with the board, create provision that will require the authority to comply with public audit act, public finance management act and disposal of public assets act requirement, a move which other sectors have described as a mere means to silence the NGO’s.