Chilima claims Ansah still in charge at Malawi Electoral Commission: Lawyers censure Mutharika

The country’s estranged Vice-President—who is also running mate to Tonse Alliance presidential torchbearer Lazarus Chakwera—   has alleged that he has intelligence that Jane Ansah  who resigned as  chairperson of the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) is still chairing night meetings at the electoral body with the intention of rigging the fresh presidential elections.

Ansah —a judge of the Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal— stepped down from her position, further adding to the uncertainty in the run-up to the fresh presidential election whose date is not clear at the moment.

Speaking at Namadidi grounds in Zomba on Saturday, May 29 at joint rally which he held together with Malawi Congress Party (MCP) president  Chakwera, the vice-president Chilima  said Malawians must know that DPP does not want the fresh Presidential election to take place and it is deliberately throwing various dog tactics in the pot so that the election is cancelled.

He said all this is testimony that DPP is aware that Malawians are tired of its administration and that its only options are violence and rigging.

Chilima said unfortunately for DPP rigging will also not be possible this time because the opposition has put in place tight measures to ensure that it does not happen.

Meanwhile, Chilima’s lawyer Khumbo Soko  has differed with Mutharika  claims that the whole world is laughing at Malawi for the decision by the Supreme Court of Appeal to uphold the Constituttional Court nullification of the May 21 2019 presidential election result, saying it is “not only a traverse of justice and ridiculous, but has also made Malawi a laughing stock on the international scene”.

Mutharika made the claim on Friday during a ‘Talk to the President’ special programme on State-run Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) radio and TV.

But  Soko, also took to Facebook, reminded Mutharika that the world is actually is in awe of the country and its judiciary.

Said Soko: “The world is in awe of us. That we have men and women in the judiciary of remarkable integrity and spine. Who delivered justice according to law and conscience despite attempts by people allied with you to bribe them.

“Their judgements were an intellectual tour de force. Compelling and exhaustive in their analysis of the evidence and application of the relevant law.”

Mutharika and the Malawi Electoral Commission appealed the decision but the Supreme court upheld the ruling with Chief Justice Andrew Nyirenda saying “some of the grounds for appeal were not just fictious but purely unprofessional, disrespectful and distasteful.”

The octogenarian leader, a Yale law alumni and former Washington University law professor, said it was sad the courts decided to nullify the elections despite the fact that they found that they were not rigged and that the irregularities did not affect the outcome.

However,  private practice lawyer John-Gift Mwakhwawa,  has said for President Mutharika  to demean the judiciary, in their interpretation of the law, and adjudication of the elections matter, he is “actually inviting the citizens to demean his very office, because his office is also founded by law.”