The Legal Affairs Committee of Parliament has recommended the abolition of the death penalty.

Chairperson for the committee, Peter Dimba has presented a report in the house following their consultations carried out in all three regions.

Dimba said almost 99 percent of the people consulted were in support of the abolition saying the death penalty does not serve any purpose.

Among the recommendations are that Malawi, through Ministry of Justice, should emulate good examples set by other countries such as Mozambique and South Africa which have repealed the death sentence.

Dimba said this simply requires repealing the relevant statutes which provide for death penalty and not necessarily a referendum since death penalty is not a constitutional prescription.

Debate on the issue has been deferred to another day to allow MPs to look at the report.