Freedom for three days
Malawi suspends its laws against homosexuality. Three days later, the government wants nothing more to do with it.
On 5 November 2012, Malawi's justice minister Ralph Kasambara faced the press and announced something that seemed unthinkable in much of Africa. The police would no longer arrest or charge anyone for same-sex acts. The relevant sections, a legacy of British colonial rule, provided for up to 14 years in prison. They were to be suspended until parliament had decided on their future.
The move did not come out of nowhere. Two years earlier, the conviction of a couple who had publicly celebrated their engagement had caused outrage around the world. International donors froze aid, and Malawi came under pressure. President Joyce Banda, in office since the spring, had announced that she wanted to repeal the criminal provisions. Kasambara explained the moratorium soberly: if the laws were later declared unconstitutional, it would be embarrassing for the government to have prosecuted people in the meantime.
Human rights organisations rejoiced. Amnesty International spoke of a historic step. But the joy lasted only a few days. The Council of Churches, an association of Protestant churches, protested vehemently, and the Law Society also doubted whether a minister could suspend laws at all. Three days later, Kasambara backtracked. No such announcement had ever been made, he declared.
The idea did not disappear entirely. Later governments again instructed the police to refrain from arrests. In 2016, however, a court ruled this practice unlawful: the government could not suspend laws passed by parliament. And in 2024, the Constitutional Court upheld the criminal provisions.