Discrimination against homosexuals in Malawi: lessons from the recent developments

Date01 September 2011
Published date01 September 2011
DOI10.1177/1358229111420522
Discrimination against
homosexuals in Malawi:
lessons from the recent
developments
Jamil Ddamulira Mujuzi
Abstract
On 18 May 2010 a Malawian resident chief magistrate, Nyakwawa Usiwa-Usiwa, con-
victed two males, Mr Steven Monjeza Soko and Mr Tionge Chimbalanga Kachera, of bug-
gery and gross indecency after evidence was adduced that they had been living together
before and after their ‘marriage/engagement’ as husband and wife. On 20 May 2010, the
same magistrate sentenced both offenders to 14 years’ imprisonment, the maximum
sentence provided for under the Penal Code Act for the above offences. The magis-
trate held that he imposed a severe sentence to protect the Malawian public from
other people ‘who may be tempted to emulate’ the ‘horrendous’ example of the two
men. This article paints the picture of the views of senior government officials and reli-
gious leaders in Malawi on the issue of homosexuality, highlights constitutional provi-
sion relating to marriage in Malawi, gives the facts of the case and argues that the
manner in which the case was handled shows that magistrate, the prosecution and
in some cases the defence were homophobic. It is also argued that the manner in which
one of the offenders was treated by the Malawian society – when he was forced to
undress several times for people to ‘verify’ whether he was a woman – was contrary
to the Constitution of Malawi and its international human rights obligations under the
African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights.
Keywords
Discrimination, homosexuals, marriage, Malawi, human rights, constitution
Faculty of Law, University of the Western Cape, South Africa
Corresponding author:
Email: djmujuzi@gmail.com
International Journalof
Discrimination and theLaw
11(3) 150–160
ªThe Author(s) 2011
Reprints and permission:
sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/1358229111420522
ijdl.sagepub.com

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