Chakwera back in Malawi parliament

Malawi Congress Party (MCP) leader Lazarus Chakwera is finally back  in the August house to take part in parliamentary proceedings  ending his boyctt after the Constitutional Court  overturned last May’s presidential elections.

This is the first time since Chakwera decided to abscond Parliamentary sitting to allow for Constitutional Court hearing where he together with UTM party leader Saulos Chilima challenged the presidential election results and has seen the court rule in their favour.

The Constitutional Court on February 3 200 annulled results that declared President Peter Mutharika, who had a narrow lead, victor and lashed the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) for “incompetence.”

The court directed that MEC should conduct fresh elections because of serious irregularities that were involved during the voting process and counting of votes, among other things being the use of Tipp-ex without proper direction and supervision.

Chakwera was supposed to take over as Leader of Opposition in Parliament following his party’s good showing during the parliamentary elections.

He however took the oath of office as member of  parliament for Lilongwe but last week was forced to refund K3 million in allowances he received without attending parliament.

Robin Lowe, an MCP legislator is the acting Leader of Opposition.