Malawi MPs demand banks install toilets for customers as lawmakers debate major shake-up of banking laws

Malawian MPs have turned their attention to an unlikely issue amid debate on a major overhaul of the country's banking laws — demanding that banks be legally required to provide toilets for customers.

The call was made by Mzimba South MP Emmanuel Chambulanyina Jere, of the Malawi Congress Party, during second-reading debate on the Banking Amendment Bill, 2026, in the National Assembly, chaired by First Deputy Speaker Victor Musowa.

The legislator questioned why banks are seemingly exempt from rules requiring public spaces to provide sanitary facilities — pointing out that banking halls are visited by huge numbers of the public every single day.

Referencing a presidential directive that all public spaces should have adequate toilets, the MP demanded to know why the Bill made no mention of the issue.

"If sanitary facilities are considered essential in public spaces, why should banks be an exception? Why is there no provision in this Bill requiring banks to provide sanitary facilities for their customers?" he asked.

His intervention shifted the debate away from dry regulatory matters and onto the everyday experience of ordinary Malawians forced to queue for banking services.

Committee member Gwengwe backed the call, arguing that banks should think not just about facilities inside their halls, but also about the needs of customers left waiting outside — sometimes for lengthy periods.

He said providing decent sanitary facilities should be seen as part of banks' wider duty to offer customer-friendly environments.

The toilet debate came as MPs picked apart sweeping reforms proposed under the Banking Amendment Bill, which aims to bring Malawi's banking laws — some dating back to 1989 — up to modern international standards, including tougher anti-money laundering rules and stronger oversight of financial institutions.

The Bill also seeks to fix long-standing weaknesses that have seen banking disputes increasingly dragged through the courts, with MPs warning that outdated legislation has fuelled delays and eroded public trust in the system.

It is also designed to bring the Banking Act in line with the Public Finance Management Act, tightening the legal net around the sector.

The reforms — first mooted back in 2013 — received broad support in the chamber.

MCP's Dowa Phuzo said he had no objection to the Bill, insisting it would boost protections for depositors and drag outdated banking laws into the modern era.

UTM MP Felix Njawala also threw his weight behind the proposals, while Gwengwe hailed the Bill as a "significant milestone" that would improve governance, transparency and accountability across the financial sector.

But it was the humble question of bathroom access that gave Tuesday's session an unexpected twist — with MPs now left to decide whether toilet provision should be written directly into the law, or left to regulators to enforce separately.