By Prisca Promise Mashushu
President Lazarus Chakwera has granted pardons to about 22 prisoners in the country as a way of commemorating the Christmas holidays.
This was revealed on Tuesday in a press statement signed by the secretary under the Ministry of Homeland and Security, Steven W.S Kayuni.
The statement says the president has pardoned the prisoners as an exercise of the power accorded to him under section 89(2) of the constitution of the Republic of Malawi and section 111 of the Prisoners Act.
It further states that the pardons have been done after following the right requirements of the Guidelines for granting the pardons of convicted prisoners and those who have demonstrated good behavioural reform while serving their sentences.
According to the press release, some of the pardoned prisoners include those who have served half of their sentences, the chronically ill, the elderly and female convicts who were accompanied by their children in prison.
The president has also granted a General Amnesty to convicted prisoners serving determinate sentences reducing their respective sentences by six months as an act of clemency during the Christmas holidays and as a measure to decongest prisons in the country.
