Analysts welcome SKC call for Malawi veep status change
Political analysts have welcomed vice president Saulos Chilima’s call to empower ad protect the office of the vice president, saying this has been long over-due.
Chilima, addressing a United Transformation Movement (UTM) political rally in Ntcheu on Sunday said the UTM will facilitate the amendment of the Republican Constitution to give the office more authority and certainty.
“I do not want my deputy to go through what I have through and what others before me have gone through,” he said.
Polical scientist at Livingstonia Synod George Phiri told Nyasa Times that this issue has been on the table for a long time.
“There is no way the office can function well if the Constitution remains the same. This means the office will remain a ceremonial office,” said Phiri.
He said there was need to change the Constitution to give a clear mandate of the office so that the vice president can be evaluated on whether her has performed or not.
Currently, the president delegates jobs to the vice president and when their relationship sours, the vice president is not given any job as is the case between president Peter Mutharika and Chilima.
Phiri said there is need for clear reference of work and mandate for the office of the vice president, the second most powerful office of the land.
Accountability and governance commentator Henry Chingaipe concurred with Chilima that it was time that the functions of a vice-president should not be dependent on the delegation of the president.
He gave an example of the United States of America where a vice-president is president of the Senate, a powerful policy and lawmaking body of government.
Said Chingaipe in quotes reported by The Nation newspaper: “In Malawi, it has been common that a vice-president as running mate is not chosen for work but on the calculus of geographical and political interests. When the person brings in votes, the usefulness ends there.”
Since the introduction of the Office of the Vice-President in the 1994 Constitution, there has been gulf between the presidents and their respective vice-presidents.
The first democratic president, Bakili Muluzi had a good relationship t with his vice Justin Malewezi for almost the entire 10 years in office but only fell out towards the end of their term when the latter expressed ambitions to take over as presidential candidate.
When Bingu wa Mutharika paired with Joyce Banda, he started sidelining her when she opposed plans for succession of his brother Peter t who has also been in bad working relationship with Chilima.
In 2005, late president Bingu wa Mutharika fell out with his vice Cassim Chilumpha when the latter refused to leave the United Democratic Front (UDF) , the party that ushered them into government, after Mutharika formed the DPP.
Chilumpha was even charged with treason, the case which did not see any light of the day in court for lack of evidence.
Similarly, when then vice-president Joyce Banda disclosed her ambitions to take over from Mutharika at the expiry of his term, the party sidelined her and took away her security.
But Joyce Banda also sidelined vice president Khumbo Kachali in favour of a running mate who would give People’s Party the youth and Central Region votes in Sosten Gwengwe.
Follow and Subscribe Nyasa TV :
Please,can anyone educate me about the official working hours of these two dudes,the president and his vice??? It seems like they use their official hours for their own party and movements activities!!!
Of all VPs, Chilima has not suffered anything compared to his predecessors. The problem here is not the consitution but over-ambitious VPs who think they know better than their boss and start planning to take over from them from day 1. Giving the VPs more power is not the solution . The solution is for them to know that there can only be one leader at a time and the buck stops at that leader. A tambala awiri salira khola limodzi. Of all people Chilima cannot stand up to a very strong VP in the unlikely event that he ever… Read more »
Ooops! “Analysts” wake ndi George Phiri? And you really use the plural word for a single so called “analyst”? This is just a beautiful country with stupid below average IQ people. How much resources do we have here to waste on the VP? Who was the Vice President to that impostor and dictator (Kamuzu Banda)? Anyway, it’s not surprising. That’s what stupid and blind followers do; supporting every stupid and damn ideas that come from their political masters. In all this there is one loser (tax-payer) and one winner (Chilima himself as VP).
More fire analysts! We need this gradual change now so that vice presidents should not be dismissed at will by the sitting presidents at the end of their terms of office for their greed! The office of the presidents should not take the presidency as their personal estate! The presidency is a national office not a party office!
SKC should resign to demonstrate that the position is irrelevant. Why for goodness sake does he hang around. He claims he is result oriented yet he is happy just occupying an office and receiving salaries and benefits without working. The dude is afraid that if he resigns, he is not sure of his UTM project and wants to get benefits. How can he call government to be corrupt when he is part of it.
Lilian Kaunda, ukatero wayankhula? This is a recycled and tired argument. The VP was constitutionally elected and can only be constitutionally removed. Resigning would be like playing into aPumbwa’s hands. This is what Pumbwas want. VP should not endorse these malicious beings. He should stay in office kuti apumbwa azipsa mtima