Malawi Supreme Court judge defends reappointment of 2 MEC commissioners: Kunje, Mathanga
The upfront talking judge of the Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal Dunstain Mwaungulu has defended the re-appointment of two Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) commissioners, saying it is good for continuity.
President Peter Mutharika on Sunday retained his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) representatives Jean Mathanga and Angelina Kunje from immediate past cohort declared incompetent by the court and parliament for the botched 2019 elections.
But Justice Mwaungulu writing on his Facebook wall argued that the reappointment means that the political parties that nominated them are still confident in them.
“But the reappointment of the two is good for others reasons. Continuity, induction, efficacy and effectiveness,” he said.
On concerns that Mutharika has erred in making the reappointments in view that the two are part of the embattled previoys commission found to be incompetent by the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court and parliament, Mwaungulu said the court went overboard to determine competence of commissioners a matter not raised formally and on which commissioners had not been given to defend themselves.
“The commissioners were not part of the proceedings; the Electoral Commission was. The commissioners could not defend themselves since they were not sued,” said Mwaungulu, a well-experienced, affable and, at times, widely seen as a controversial judge,
The new chairperson of the commission is respectable High Court judge Chifundo Kachale.
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Mwaungulu wadyetsedwa chibanzi,we don’t want them, angayambe kumuphunzitsa mabedwe akavote chofundo kachale azimayi woyipa,azipita sitikuwafuna whether is for continuity or for tippex arrangements we don’t want them period .Amabera in favour of Peter Munthalika that is why we don’t want them. Munthalika akufuna kuberanso chisankho.These people they know how to rig presidential election results.In 2014 they were there,In 2019 they were there stealing votes for agogo.Tiuzanepo zoona apa, stampede yachitika Ku Mzuzu zangowonetseratu Kut anthu ambiri amafuna ntchito,ku ma interviews a hospital attendant positions.Kuvotera Munthalika palibe chabwino ulova continues.Kuvotera Chakwera and Chilima, ndiyekut more job opportunities will be available.Munthu ukafuna kumasaukabe voterani Munthalika president wosafunira dziko zabwino.
To be honest I’d care less of the other two’s inclusion as this is a true test to see what the opposition will and how they’d react. We have weightier matters to concentrate on. Leave them alone be playing games and let’s move to secure our vote. If we can do all that is necessary to be done so that NO rigging is done, their incompetence is not a bother to us. #MALAWI🇲🇼 WILL BE SAVED. VIVA FREEDOM✊🏾🖐🏾
Mwaungulu is incompetent. Ndiponso pathako pake
I said it almost 3 years back that Mwaunguru is compromised now and others were against my opinion. This guy he quickly discovered that he is old and needs additional retirement package and he comprises too much for dpp cash.
He is the one misleading APM in castigating the judges. Check APM speech when castigatig judges and Mwaunguru comments against fellow judges…Do you see it? We know it already some of us how dirty he is playing. Unfortunately God saw it and pushed him away to UK sick otherwise if he was on the panel of SCA he would have messed up. He lost his Christian values . He has invested anything much for his retirement. Too late!
Go well!
Mwaungulu is not controversial but talks straight and honest. These courts were surely making their case and ruling over them. For goodness sake who petetioned the court to stop MEC from making new registrations.who petetioned the court to reisntore Chilima, who petetioned the court on the competence of MEC. Who petetioned the court to determine on 50 +1, who petetioned the court to declar2 that constituency tally centres were illegal. Now these judges don’t want to be critised because they are afraid that their stupidity will be exposed.
On point. Even a layman like me can clearly see that. How do you make judgement on something that was not part of the petition? See how they endeavored to overturn their own 1999 interpretation of 50 plus 1. Shame on these stupid judges
They realized their misjudgement on 50+1, hence this time made correct decision. Law is evolutionary not static. In a tribalistic voting country like ours, 50+1 at least will now recognise other regions vote as important, especially the north. Dpp was marginalizing the north as irrelevant, now it is courting it. For that, 50+1 is more unifying to the country than the previous stupid first past the post.
On Dunstain, he is completely wrong. Only dpp supporters think he is a better judge than those in conc court, high court and Supreme Court. Something is wrong here, since when has mec become a court? With so many blunders in the 2019 elections, the courts were right to brand mec incompetent including the individuals in mec. Mec is people, so individual staff were responsible, hence also incompetent.
Kulira uku ndipo ma cadets simusowa. Wanu womangamanga mwina tiwoneko zina. Eishii Boma lonzunza lidzipita basi.
I would also advise the opposition and parliament to let go two reasons:
1) It is always advisable not to appoint a completely new board for the sake of continuity in implementing policy issues.
2) DPP/APM have deliberately done this to agitate the opposition into protests and possibly legal action as this would justify APM’s wish to delay the fresh election, something he would very much like to do, apart from the Covid 19 pandemic scare.
Leave things as they are and let’s concentrate on vigilance and sealing loopholes.
In terms of governance, it was wrong to appoint these two who displayed arrogance to key stakeholders, namely other Political parties, PAC, Parliament and the general public. Their appointment was out of the President’s arrogance and non repentant stance. Namathanga is known to have been very close to Jane Ansah, poisonous and spoilt Jane’s decision making in the process.
MCP of Dr Lazarous Chakwera has appointed a talent in Dr Anthony Mkumbwa from Chitipa, a certified Auditor and forensic investigator, he will surely be an added asset to the Commissioners with his analytical skills. Polofesa on the other hand cannot go out side his Lomwelisation thinking. That is the difference between the two leaders. Vote Chakwera to end Lomwelisation culture in Government. Vote Chakwera for the Malawi wa TONSE type of thinking.
Tangowasiyani palibe chomwe angapange .Nawonso adaona kuti Jane zinamuvuta mpaka adaononga mbiri yake.
They say Individual commissioners were incompetent to which test or scored card were they assessed on to warrant that they failed and means incompetent
The supreme court judge is wrong in what is MEC, the people who run or manage mec are the commissioners and other staff if they dont perform mec wont perform. One can not seperate incompetence of mec as an organisation and its staff. The commissioners and entire staff failed mec. To include these old commissioners means the one including them something is wrong in his/her upstairs.
This time you can reject what the judge has said because it is not your favour. You are able to criticise the judge opinion and it is right to you as opposition. Very ignorant of thins.
If that were true companies would not appoint anyone else from that company as CEO after filing their CEO for incompetence. Kuganiza mombwambwana
This time around we are ready to watch every space no mistakes allowed no tipped no fake tally sheets we Wil deal accordingly
A Mwaungulu mwatani kodi? Osadikila bwanji nkhani ikupezeni ku court kwanuko? Mwaweluzilatu pa facebook? This doesnt sound right. You have to respect your fellow judges who handled the case. If you disagree with them there is s better way; ask justice Twea. Osati izi
Truth hurts
Atukwaneni ma judge ajano. Si m’mati atumbuka this, atumbuka that. Either way, dpp is packing, and they know it.
Mwaungulu comes across as pretty nutty sometimes, and plain idiotic other times. For why would he make a public comment on an issue that might come up in court? By a stroke of luck, he has been stranded in the UK during this COVID-19 period, else he would have messed up the recent supreme court’s ruling.
Totally agree. I can think of 4 categories of people who shouldn’t publicly comment on political issues, retired or not retired: Judges, Church Reverends/Priests (but not elders or deacons); Military and Police personnel. The reason is that such comments would tend to undermine the whole cadre of that profession – serving or not
Kkkkkkkk kkkkkkkk!
Even if all the MEC commissioners wore the DPP colours, the space in which to maneuver some rigging has shrinked to almost a needle
s eye and the new MEC the size of a camel will find it impossible to go through this needles eye hole, not even the witchcraft the interim president has threatened to unleash upon those of his supporters that will fail to vote for him, will be of any use to the DPP officials in the new MEC!This is why you will lose again at no point did the courts find any rigging or that the irregularities which happen in every election caused the outcome of the election to change. Your problem is that you think the mpungwe mpungwe that you see from social media and urban youth hyping Mcp and Utm means Dpp- UDF has no supporters. You will cry again. This is why Dpp -UDF are in the villages, in the north and elsewhere rallying its base, reminding them why they chose democracy during the referendum. Why even though they are not perfect, they are better than the promises of former dictators and amateur leaders.
Simple mathematics, DPP will lose miserably in the forthcoming Presidential Elections. The Mumu project is coming to an end and consequently, the family parties they stand for. Shame!!!
For a supreme court judge, judge Mwaungulu publicly comments far too much on issues that could likely come before him and sometimes comments without giving too much thought about the legal overtones. I have in mind where he opined that it is MEC that has the authority to set election dates contradicting what esteemed Justice Twea said in the Appeal judgment that the authority is vested in Parliament and that MEC ‘does not even have the authority to decide the date for a by-election’. It is very easy to pre-judge cases to fit positions you have already publicly taken.
When Mwaungulu said MEC could set election date, you celebrated.
Mec being found incompetent does not mean every Mec employee is incompetent. A Mec commissioner is not Mec. So Mathanga is not Mec.
The courts did not say MEC was incompetent, i guess you heard them wrong…..They said COMMISIONERS were incompetent and NOT COMMISSION. Infact they did not say 2 or 3 commisioners, they said COMMISIONERS….i guess you can now start commenting from here.
Exctaly the point. That’ s the point the learned Judge was expressing. It was Mec in the dock not the commisioner. Remember Mec is a legal persona..
Generally Jean Mathanga is very beautiful. Very hot. Make-up free. Eeish this guy Mathanga got a jackpot. I would re-appoint her multiple times! Who disagrees??
hahahahaha boss…..u mean it….true but not KUNJE….the beauty in Mathanga has saved her from her incompetence
kkkkkk ndakudziwani bwana!
God bless the land of Malawi.
This judge is another DPP cadet in the judiciary luck that he is not among the MEC commissioners.
Mwaungulu wakhala wa DPP lero. When he said MEC should decide election date you did not see anything g wrong.
The fact remains that citizens shall cast their votes in large number, for change… New commissioners or old, the will of the people is to be respected. God bless mother Malawi, let it be a land of peace
People don’t know that ife ndi amene timavota not commissioners. You wanted the commission to be in place lero mwayamba kubangula muzidzathamangira ku ma court?
underground work kunje n mathanga for jeni
Ivo papo! ma judge ghauchindere nganandi ku malawi. Wanguwa nkhu nyengo yose iyi kuti uzayowoye mwahuno kuti the court errored on this.
koma kwaine palibe cholakwika chifukwa akakhala onse ma new comers azasowa poyambira komanso nkosavuta kuwasokoneza akhoza kusiya office upside down angafunse ndani poti onse achoka apo mr prezident good job
Even if cadets filled all the posts in the commission, it would make no difference to the fact that APM and DPP is losing this election. Its now impossible even to cheat.
In 2009 when MCP supporters teamed up with UDF, there was noise here on the nyasatimes granting Tembo’s imminent victory. What happened next? Landslide for Bingu whom they underated. Keeping dreaming.
Kunalibe Chilima that time in politics. Wabwera mwana ngoni mubiba chindindindi
Beautiful judge mwaungulu🙏🏻🙏🏻
Thanks for enlightening us, the learned judge…..kwachuluka anthu “otsata” malamulo kunjaku..ena ndi ma legal expert amalamulo khumi koma akulowela za malamulo adziko.
he is entitled to his opinion. I hope his retirement plans are going on well.
I have no problem with the reappointment of the two Commissioners, but what is boggling me is whether or not the representation is fair. I have noticed that two of the newly appointed Commissioners, Nanthuru and Kunje are representing UDF. Does UDF have 1/10 of the total number of MPs? There has been talk that Commissioners would only come from DPP and MCP. If the argument is that those parties who have MPs in Parliament should produce Commissioners then PP needed to have representation as well to say the least. In this case, DPP/UDF alliance has an edge over Tonse Alliance in terms of representation. I need to be educated on what the new PPE Act says about appointment of Commissioners. You will do me a lot good.
You see APM must have consulted his UDF friends and they gave him Nanthuru pamene a MCP ndi okula mtima. They picked their own commissioners without consulting UTM so that’s the difference between team work and just using others to reach your end goals.
You are right. APM has picked Nanthuru after consulting with UDF. Chilima angokuwa izi ndi izi when Chakwera is just using him and UTM
APM consulted UDF that is why Nanthuru has been appointed as MEC commissioner. As for Chakwera, he did consult Chilima because he is just using him and UTM
Thats very very true . MCP ndiyokula mtima heavy, thats why i immediately dumped UTM the moment they joined forces with MCP. I could not take this intolerance from MCP. I wonder today , MCP is preaching anti Nepotism/Tribalism and accusing DPP of such, yet they are the architect of this. For 30 yrs, these guys left Northern Region stagnant, no development, even calling it dead North. If we substract the following Karonga Chitipa Road, Mzuzu Central Hospital, Reserve Bank of Malawi Mzuzu Branch, Nkhata – Bay Hospital , Mzuzu High Court, Mzuzu University, Technical Colleges Karonga & Rumphi, Mzuzu – Nkhata Bay Road ,Chiweta – Karonga Road, ( Constructed by Murray & Roberts). We could only have been pointing at Infrastructure built by Livingstonia Synod. To add insults to injury , these guys chased all teachers kuchoka mumadera ena apakati ndi akumwera kuti azikaphunzitsa kwao ku Mpoto, rubbish indeed. Very sad when i see ena aku North clapping hands for MCP, Very sad indeed. MCP ndichipani, choyipa, ndipo choyipitsitsa.
Yes, you need to be educated. Next time, research on a topic and then comment on it.
All the best our new Chair and commissioners. For you Mathanga and Kunje congarats for being entrusted on the positions, proud of you continue serving Malawians.
Serving stupid Malawians like you but not me and others with brains…
for continuity, i quote, in fraud/ or good operation. it depends which side is feeding u..
Good for continuity of fraud and rigging yes justice mwaungulu you are dead right they need to be there to ensure the vote is stolen again and that mathanga and Linda are there to manage the rigging plan