DPP election bid set for September 29
The High Court of Malawi sitting as the Constitutional Court has set September 29 for hearing preliminary submissions in a case where Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) wants the June 23 2020 Fresh Presidential Election nullified.
During the case’s scheduling conference in Blantyre yesterday, chairperson of the five-judge panel, High Court Judge Sylvester Kalembera, who is leading the panel also comprising Rowland Mbvundula, Dorothy NyaKaunda Kamanga, Annabel Mtalimanja and Thom Ligowe, directed that the claimant should file its amended submissions to the court and serve the defence by September 17 2021.
He also said the defence should submit its objections on September 24 before the hearing of the preliminary arguments set for September 29 and 30 2021.
But in apparent reference to delayed payment of salaries in the public service due to challenges attributed to the government’s electronic payments platform, the Integrated Financial Management and Information System (Ifmis), the judge said the proposed dates of hearing would be subject to the performance of the system.
Kalembera said: “The hearing of the preliminary arguments is subject to this issue of Ifmis. If the issue has not been sorted out, we will communicate because some of the judges come from outside Blantyre.”
In the case, the former governing DPP wants the court to nullify the election of President Lazarus Chakwera and Vice-President Saulos Chilima as well as all parliamentary and local government by-elections administered by the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) cohort because the High Court in May ruled that four of its members were not duly appointed.
When the court convened yesterday morning, it transpired that some of the documents DPP lead lawyer Charles Mhango filed were signed by his younger brother, Burton Mhango.
Following the court’s observation, the State through new Attorney General Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda asked the court to dismiss the case on the basis of failure to comply with the court rules by lawyers representing DPP.
Mbvundula wondered why the DPP lawyer did not tell the court and justify why the documents were signed by the former Malawi Law Society president.
In his response, Mhango apologised and asked the court to treat the issue as an irregularity, describing the incident as “a slip of the pen.”
Delivering his ruling on the technicality, Kalembera said the case cannot be dismissed based on the cited anomaly, saying it can be cured.
In an interview after the conference, Mhango said he was satisfied with the proceedings.
But in a separate interview, Chakaka Nyirenda indicated that the State will ask the court to dismiss the case on September 29 on the basis that DPP did not have sufficient interest in the matter because it did not participate in the said elections.
He said: “It was [former president] Peter Mutharika that participated in the elections, so DPP cannot come to court and challenge the elections.
“The other thing is that the chaos that has been created on the issues of irregularities in the appointment of MEC commissioners was brought in by the DPP. So, they deliberately created that chaos and they want to turn around and say we want to be rewarded for those irregularities?”
This is the second time the Constitutional Court will decide the fate of the country’s presidency after the presidential election nullification petition filed by Chakwera and Chilima after the May 21 2019 Presidential Election. The five-judge Constitutional Court panel granted the petitioners their wish on February 3 2020 and ordered a fresh election.
