ConCourt rules DPP lockdown plans were unconstitutional

The Constitutional Court  (ConCourt) sitting in Lilongwe has t ruled that the planned lockdown by the former ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was unconstitutional.

Judge Kenyattta Nyirenda a judge who first granted injunction stopping the government from implementing a 21-day national lockdown due to coronavirus. 

The three-judge panel has also recommended that in future, before any lockdown is imposed, practical and realistic measures should be put in place to cushion social economic needs of the poor.

Peter Mutharika, Malawi’s  immediate former president, declared the lockdown in  April. Some concerned citizens and civil society groups obtained a court order stopping the lockdown.

Judge Kenyatta Nyirenda ordered an injunction against its implementation until the government could come up with some way to protect the country’s poorest and most vulnerable citizens.

This ruling forced Mutharika to announce a nationwide minimum wage equivalent monthly cash transfer to poor households. It also forced him to create a Covid-19 task force that included opposition leaders, civil society and public health experts.

Justice Nyirenda faced fierce criticism from the DPP-led government  officials, who declared that if the virus spread quickly then “the nation knows who to blame”. Nyirenda was also attacked for failing to be “patriotic” in the face of a national crisis and branded a ‘covidiot’.

But analysts and civil society groups praised him for maintaining judicial independence.

Boniface Dulani, a senior lecturer in the University of Malawi’s department of political and administrative studies, said that Nyirenda  prevented  possible abuses of power by the then government.

Gift Trapence, chairperson of the Human Rights Defenders Coalition — the civil society group that initially opposed the government’s lockdown plans —  also praised the judge.

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cyborg.
3 years ago

Nyakhweee again. Uku ndiye kukong’ontha yofaifa. Kodi anthu awa anawinako mlandu?

Mangochi Kabwafu
Mangochi Kabwafu
3 years ago

Iiiii, koma dpp abalee, uhuuuuu.

John
John
3 years ago

Fool

Malawi walero
Malawi walero
3 years ago

Mukungotaya nthawi pachabe ndi nkhani zaziii. Nde anthu akufawa ndi covid 19 ndi zimene zili mu constitutional? Galu za anthu inu

ERUTU
ERUTU
3 years ago
Reply to  Malawi walero

Cadet mvera zomwe zalembedwazi akuamfuna kukhonza zomwe zinalembedwa m’mabukhu yawo ndi awa akalewa amawatcha wa DPP tere 💪🏾🇲🇼

Ngombwax
Ngombwax
3 years ago

Kenyatta! Another dude with a lean and hungry look. Such men are very dangerous ……

ERUTU
ERUTU
3 years ago
Reply to  Ngombwax

Racist

Lego
3 years ago
Reply to  Ngombwax

Stop showing your stupidity here.

One grandson
One grandson
3 years ago

In a crisis, right to life/health ranks number one. But our courts think otherwise simply because it was coming from dpp. Now your favourite candidate is in power suddenly everything by government is okay. Under dpp even Timothy Mtambos coalition of thieves and vandals was constitional.

ERUTU
ERUTU
3 years ago
Reply to  One grandson

Ogoooo wina uyunso anali naye limodzi

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