COMPANY LAW IN MALAWI Allan Hans Muhome 1 COMPANY LAW IN MALAWI Allan Hans Muhome MBA, LLB (Hons) (Mw) Lecturer in Law The Catholic University of Malawi 2 February 2016 Published in Malawi by Assemblies of God Press Telephone: +265 845 390/289 e-mail:
[email protected] All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except under the terms of the Copyright Act, without the permission in writing of the publisher. ISBN - 978-99960-967-1-6 3 Dedicated to Patricia-Mary, Francisca-Naphiri, Eugene-Ekari and Gabriella Okota 4 PREFACE It is well recognised that company law is a large and complex subject which has expanded rapidly in volume in recent years. On 19th July 2013 a new set of the Companies Act (CA) was assented to by the President, repealing and replacing the outdated CA 1984. With it, has come a large body of regulations and various Corporate Governance requirements. It is against this background that I found it necessary to publish this modest contribution particularly focusing on the overreaching changes that have been brought about by the CA 2013. The Act has sought to simplify company law and to start with a small firm focus as these comprise the vast majority of companies. For instance, the Act has introduced a ‘one person company.’ For the first time, the duties of directors have been codified. The concept of ‘enlightened shareholder value’ has been introduced which gives greater attention to stakeholders other than shareholders and to encourage companies to adopt more long-term perspectives that are not only measured by profit but also acceptable environmental, social and ethical standards.