Lawyers call for resignation of Malawi Law Society president

Lawyers in Malawi have petitioned the President of Malawi Law Society( MLS) , Burton Chidongongo Mhango to resign for failing to run affairs of the organization and allowing it to be peddling partisan politics in favour of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

The petition calls him to step down as the body’s leader together with Secretary of the MLS, Martha Kaukonde and vice president, Patrick Mpaka.

This is contained in a letter addressed to the trio and is in circulation on the social media.

In the letter, the lawyers are accusing Mhango and his team of failing to defend and promote local lawyers by encouraging Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) to hire South African lawyers to represent the electoral body in the appeal case of the presidential nullification c while there are many lawyers in Malawi.

They say undermining Women Lawyers Association and failure by MLS to offer legal advice to Malawians on critical issues affecting the country especially matters affecting the weak and the vulnerable, is also another reason to boot them out.

The lawyers says the leadership of the MLS lost trust from the members as lawyers in Malawi and as a result,  Mhango and his lieutenants cannot be entrusted to lead the organization, hence calling them to step down so that other capable lawyers took over the leadership.

Meanwhile, Malawian lawyers are expressing their views on MEC decision to hire foreign lawyers from South Africa in different social media forums.

Lawyer Khumbo Soko is wondering on how many Malawian advocates have been hired to go and argue in foreign jurisdictions and how many foreign jurisdictions have got laws that allow an advocate from another jurisdiction to be granted audience to argue a case, saying Malawians look down upon themselves thinking that anything from across the borders is better.

On his part, Dean of the faculty of law at the University of Malawi’s Chancellor College, Sunduzwayo Madise, says using tax payers money K600 Million to hire foreign lawyers to argue a Malawian case and only on appeal after the arguments have already been filed is a scandal.

“Is this really the best way to spend tax money when hospitals have no drugs and which budget line is MEC, an aggrieved party warranting this lavish expenditure,” Madise, who is also commissioner at Malawi Human Rights Commission, wondered.

The four South African Lawyers, Dumisa Ntsebenza sc, Elizabeth Makhanani Mere, Gideon Phalatse and Caphus Mboweni, arrived in the country on Sunday, 8th March, 2020 to assist in the preparation of the appeal case on behalf of MEC.