Rosemary Kumitsonyo Kanyuka | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Kanyuka in 2014 | |
| Education | Chancellor College |
| Occupation | lawyer |
| Known for | Director of Public Prosecutions |
| Predecessor | Gertrude_Hiwa |
Rosemary Kumitsonyo Kanyuka served as Malawian Deputy Head of Mission of the High Commission of the Republic of Malawi and as the Director of Public Prosecutions. In 2018 she was appointed to become the Law Commissioner and to lead the Malawi Law Commission by the President.
Life
Kanyuka graduated in law from Chancellor College, University of Malawi.[1]
The British Council paid for her to attend a meeting in Trinity College, Cambridge in 1995 where she discussed the current state of the country's provisional constitution. She was then employed in a legal practise in Lilongwe and she noted that the constitution laid down terms that favoured an equality between the sexes but the requirements were not being enforced. Women were enduring inadequate laws because the constitution allowed for a Law Commissioner to enforce the constitution, but there was no appointed Law Commissioner.[2]
She became the Director of Private Prosecutions and she permitted a case by the Anti-Corruption Bureau against Minister of Gender Patricia Kaliati for corruption. The case was later abandoned.[3]
Between 2012 and 2017 she was her country's deputy ambassador (Deputy Head of Mission) to Japan.[1]
In August 2018, she became a director of the Reserve Bank of Malawi and in the November she was appointed to be Malawi's Law Commissioner by the President for a term of as many as five years. She received a salary, a fuel and air travel allowance and medical aid for both her and her family.[4][5] The President was trying to appoint more women and the press spoke of her appointment as part of a feminocracy as he had appointed Annabel Mtalimanja to lead the Malawi Electoral Commission, Fiona Kalemba was the Clerk of Parliament, Gertrude Hiwa was Solicitor General and Wandika Phiri was the Prisons Chief Commissioner.[4]
Malawi's former minister Uladi Mussa was facing bribery charges in 2019 relating to the granting of Malawi citizenship to Burundians after less than a year of Malawi residence. Kanyuka proposed to enforce the existing seven year residency rule required for citizenship and to create a designated committee to review applications.[6]
Kanyuka was one of Malawi's Human Rights Commissioners as part of her position as law commissioner.[4][7]
She was elected to be the vice-President of the Commonwealth Association of Law Reform Agencies in Malta in 2025.[8]
In May 2026, Kanyuka still served as Malawi's Law Commissioner. In line with Section 4 of the Human Rights Commission Act and the constitution, she and the Ombudsman Grace Malera, called for nominations to serve as one of the new human rights commissioners.[9]
Private life
Kanyuka is an elder in a church in Lilongwe.[10]
References
- "Law profiles - Profiling Women Malawi". profilingwomenmw.org. 2021-09-07. Retrieved 2026-06-02.
- "Human Rights & The Making of Constitutions: Malawi, Kenya, Uganda" (PDF). Cambridge African Monographs, No 18 African Studies Centre University of Cambridge. Cambridge African Monographs, No 18 African Studies Centre University of Cambridge. 11 Feb 1995. p. 62. Retrieved 4 June 2026.
- "Kaliati is free politician, no charges –ACB". www.nyasatimes.com. 2014-07-12. Retrieved 2026-06-05.
- "Mutharika 'feminocracy' continues, appoints Rose Kanyuka as Malawi Law Commissioner -". www.nyasatimes.com. 2018-11-20. Retrieved 2026-06-04.
- Qureshi, Asif H. (2023-12-01). Law Reforms Around the World: Perspectives from National and International Law. Taylor & Francis. p. 89. ISBN 978-1-003-81346-0.
- "Malawi Law Commission wants special board for citizenship awards". www.nyasatimes.com. 2019-04-26. Retrieved 2026-06-02.
- "Malawi Human Rights Commissioner Kanyuka advocates strengthening child protection system". www.nyasatimes.com. 2023-02-27. Retrieved 2026-06-02.
- "Executive Committee|Calras". Retrieved 2026-06-04.
- Viano, Andrew (2026-05-17). "MHRC calls for nominations for new commissioners". Nation Online. Retrieved 2026-06-02.
- Gadama, Richard Gracious (2025-01-22). Breaking the Ceiling: Women in the Charismatic Churches in Malawi. African Books Collective. p. 171. ISBN 978-99960-80-43-2.