Malawi VP Chilima drags President Mutharika to court over refusal to fire Ansah, electoral commissioners

March 25, 2020 Wongani Chiuta - Nyasa Times 117 Comments

State vice-president Saulos Chilima, who is also the UTM Party leader, has commenced legal proceedings against President Peter Mutharika for failing to sack Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) chairperson Jane Ansah and other commissioners who the Constitution court declared incompetent to manage an election.

Chilima takes Mutharika to court over his s arrogant refusal to fire Justice Jane Ansah and her fellow commissioners whose performance was found wanting by two organs of the State, the Constitutional Court and the National Assembly

President Mutharika last week said he would not fire the MEC commissioners when he rejected a recommendation from parliament’s Public Affairs Committee and refused to assent to election-related bills that would have facilitated the holding of fresh presidential polls on May 19.

But Chilima is not taking the matter lying down, as he has sought for court relief  to restrain MEC commissioners from discharging their duties in preparing for the fresh elections.

Lawyer for Chilima, Dr Chikosa Silungwe said they have filed with the court and they are waiting to hear on Thursday  when the matter will heard.

“We have filed a case against the commissioners in their individual capacities,” he said.

UTM spokesman Joseph Chidanti Malunga said Chilima is asking the  Court to determine whether it is lawful for Ansah to continue holding her position as chairwoman of theeectiral body “when the court and Parliament have clearly stated that she is incompetent.”

Professor of law at University of Malawi’s Chancellor College, Garton Kamchedzera, said in quotes reported by The Nation daily newspaper that the opposition political parties are free to return to the court and allege that enforcement of the judgement is being frustrated by one of the parties in the elections case who happens to be Mutharika.

He said: “Despite the relevant committee of Parliament finding the commissioners incompetent and making a recommendation that they be removed, Mutharika, a party to the case, has made a decision in his own cause, notwithstanding appealing against the judgement.

“He has decided to reject a recommendation from Parliament that stems from the judgement that has to be implemented. So, his decision to reject the recommendation could be set aside on that ground.”

Meanwhile, enraged alliance partnersMalawi Congress Party and UTM Party have organised ‘The Day of Rage’ protests this Friday to exert enough pressure for the adamant group of commissioners to go.

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117 replies on “Malawi VP Chilima drags President Mutharika to court over refusal to fire Ansah, electoral commissioners”

  1. Ma cadet agundika si pano!!! Akutinyasa chifukwa zolemba zawo no logic….kukhala admin kuthotholapo. We need nyasatimes forum to be educative always

  2. Koma ma CADET ndiye mwagundikadi kulemba zopanda mutu. Choncho popeza Data Bundle ndi ya ulere. Mukacheza ndi zibwenzi yotsalayo lemberani zopanda pake pa social media kuti abwana aziwona ngati mukugwira ntchito chonsecho mukungowadyera.

  3. Phuma Phuma silabwino phuma silabwino I repeat.Especially kundale.Think before you act.Those who thought APM is a dunderhead and can easily be manipulated by the small small brains will be in for surprises I beg to move.Mumaona bwanji ndi wa pheee alibe phuma popanga ma decisions.He thinks first and act later.Others act first and regret later.Free advice!

  4. God in heaven is watching. He is a judge of judges and surely justice will prevail soon or later.

  5. Those who clapped hands for Concourt should now realise the constitutional errors of that judgement. A lesson to our immature and incompetent judges: do not make rulings that rely on politics.

  6. Chilima should accept that:
    1. Concourt judgement was flawed because the foolish judges did not think carefully about constitutional provisions and implications.
    2. Concourt judgement is dependent on political processes which the courts and stupid judges cannot control. These political processes are constitutional – involving Executive and Parliament
    3. President Mutharika used his constitutional powers NOT to assent to the illegal bills which were rushed and passed after opposition failed to change the constitution.
    4. If Chilima and his cohorts (MCP, Chakwera, HRDC and judges) are honest, let them ask the corrupt courts to also annul parliamentary and assembly elections. Gotani and MPs should not be in parliament because they are illegal.

  7. Koma chilima ndi mzako chakwela tangolimbikani kupanga ndale mmizimo osati mtown anthu sapita kokavota Koma ma demo andinso malawi si Lilongwe ayi yendani mmizimo musavutike ndizaku khoti muzawinabe 💯

  9. If a doctor or a nurse is found to be incompetent to practice medicine by the court of Law should he or she still be allowed to prescribe medicines?

    Or if the driver of a car is found to be incompetent to drive a car by a court of Law, should the Road Traffic Authority still allow him or her to keep driving?

    If the answer is yes, then MEC can continue. If the answer is No, then it is over for MEC.

  10. Kkkkk… ana a dad agwiridzana chimodzi kuti ayambe kutokota kwabasi pa malo ano ingakhale awoneke ngati zibekete zopanda kanthu. Ma voti down mbwembwe!

  11. He will go to any length to become president of Malawi! The question is why? or is his hatred for APM blinding this ambitious young man? izitu sizitha bwino tsopano because its becoming personal!

  12. Chilima you were picked from Airtel by Peter Munthalika. That time you were just a normal person and became a state VP. You parted with DPP and Peter Munthalika. You are now teaming up with Chakwela when you have an ambition to be come a state president. As per your alliance, you will end a state VP again should your alliance win. Will you Chilima and Chakwela manage to work together with both of you having the same ambitions to become State presidents? This combination will be the worst than all combination we had in the past should you win the coming elections. I rest my case!!!

    1. The same plays around with DPP to become a party , Bingu was picked by Muluzi from his briefcase party to be the president so stop reminding Chilima on how he became VP.

      Ur Peter Muntharika was also called by his brother Bingu from America and picked by him to be minister of Education , the duty he failed .

      Peter was also unknown to Malawians, so stop your nonsense.

    2. So what ambwiyeee… Should you be a puppet became somebody chose you and wants to use you in their nasty business? Mind you Chilima has a reputation and he rejected stupid mediocrity and cheap propaganda. Ndinu was chinyengo a culture

  13. Can the courts annul parliamentary and council poll results too. Oherwise, Jane Ansah run last years polls very well.

    1. Why and how?? Are you not aware that the court annulled the presidential polls because they heard a case where the two opposition presidential candidates petitioned the court for the annulment and re-run of the presidential polls? So you want the court to annul the parliamentary and council polls when there are no petitioners and the candidates did not bring any case to court to be heard? Do the courts judge where there is no case?

      1. Thus a very good argument you raised @Jaz, thus why we say the concourt was incompetent in their judgment, how can they judge on a case that was not brought to them?

        They judged on 50+1 when the petitioners never applied for the same!

  14. President Mutharika acted according to what the constitution says. Chilima should go to parliament and have the problems in the bills sorted.

    1. Sorted for an old stinking dying dog… Naaah

      This old man is going down as one the worst performed presidents and in fact the worst. He has nothing in him and I wonder how he found himself in America… A wasteful shit

      1. Mwagwa nayo. APM is the mosgt democratic. Had it been those other presidents we had, bwenzi Chilima, Chakwera, HRDC atakwapulidwapo kale.

        1. Peter is an American citizen.
          Came to Malawi ataitanidwa with his brother.
          He came back from USA with just a Suitcase.
          A Phiri anaganiza ndizayenda kuti. Makolo anga onse anamwalila Kudala.

      2. You’re saying this coz you were not there during the Kamuzu regime.

        Having the chance of calling the president names is one surest sign of how democratic our president is.

        During MCP era amene akanakugwira sukanamuziwa and your name would be history as you would have ended up as food to crocodiles at Stella Maris

  15. The only name that can come out of Jane’s mouth when announcing results is …………………………………………….. she cant pronounce any other name

  17. Jane Ansah and the current mec commissioners are dpps to by all means favour their boss Peter Mutharika. I noted something very strange before 21st May presidential election decoration after the court ruled out against the injunction taken by mcp , guess how happy and quick Jane Ansah reacted and went on to announce the winner to be Peter Mutharika her boss . Was shocked and definately knew what she means to all parties . Can’t trust Jane Ansah n current mec. The earlia the better big up chilima you stand for us voters.

  18. I thought the powers to fire commissioners is with the.president? Willbthe.courts stop this constitutional setting? After recommendations,from PAC, we here the firing authority did see merit in them and advised PAC to get things orderly, why don’t they do that? How is chilima coming in now…koma tinene kut awawa awa kuwapatsa ulamuliro , malamulo adzatsatidwa? Hhhmmmmm..eeiis am worried.

    1. If he continues to be a constitutional delinquent then yes he can be stripped off the powers given to him by the same constitution he is raping. It happened to Zuma in South Africa it can happen to Mutharika in Malawi.

      1. South Africa has a diferent constitutional setting. You should blame COncourt judges for making a flawed judgement which lacks understanding of Malawi’s constitutional edicts.

        1. So annulling tipped results and use of duplicates was a flawed judgement??? Where have you left your your ganglion bwana Photo cause no brain can think dull like that??? Your words sound hellish and damned. Who is your father?

          1. Why didn’t Concourt say that Parliamentary and Assembly polls were also severely affected by irregularities after all they were admisntered by the same Jane Ansah using the same procedures? This alone should tell you that Concourt ruling was tailored to serve particular interests. The interests of Chilima who is now rushing to the same corrupt judges.

        1. Of course but then we can conclude that in Malawi at the moment we have no leadership because the oldest pig at statehouse has no leadership at all.

      3. @Thats Me, ukunama. Political set up of RSA is different with ours.,

        There, they vote for a party, and the party chooses president as such the president I answerable to the party first people comes second. This means that if the president is not popular with the people the party can simply replace him with another popular fight without waiting for elections.

        While here, the president is chosen directly by the voters as such its not easy to remove him from po we an example is the Bingu-UDF saga. If it was in RSA surely Bingu would have been removed from po we!

        So your comparison is OFF THE MARK!

    2. Where the president is incompetent,courts intervene,a case of Geoge Chaponda who was relieved from ministerial post by Justice John Chirwa

      1. John Chirwa – another Tumbuka judge. How many Tumbuka judges have presided over the election case? Mukuyesa sitikudziwa?

  19. The UTMCP alliance needs an active leader. Otherwise they will give the game away to DPP who are preparing rigorous. Chakwera is too passive and will cry foul all over again if they don’t win. Now I know why we still do not know who the torch bearer is for this alliance. Forget the numbers. It’s about character and leadership.

    1. @piper, chilima has neither the character nor leadership to lead the alliance. He is good at rebellion and cannot achieve anything if he is on top. At airtel, he found the company big already and him chilima did little there. Achina Mathew’s mtumbuka worked so hard and made chilima look successful. Chilima is good at claiming superiority and sowing division basi

  20. It is not true that SKC has taken APM and MEC to court please report the right things on the ground. It is MCPand UTM Alliance that has done that both lawyers of both parties are in it in fact it is reported it was MCP lawyers that set then pace. Don’t divide the Aliance with your bias reporting please!!

      1. Auzeni…. Muwafusenso kuti Mugabe, Gadaffi, Bingu, Bashir, ndi Ena otelo ali kutiiiii… They were great leaders with qualities osati izi za ziiii anga chithaphwi

  22. The hiring or firing of commissioners is a matter of politicking. If the court intervene and grants the injunction the court is effectively stopping politics which I believe will be illogical and beyond the courts powers Malawians have given the courts. It will be the latest mistake by our biased and politically charged judiciary. The court has no mandate to direct who runs mec if politicians cannot agree then the same mec stays that’s it.

    1. The court does not use your so called politics when determining its judgement, it is guided by the constitution so please stop misleading people.

      1. STUPID thinking. Why can’t the clever and all-knowing courts make laws then? Why aren’t the courts charged with the prerogative to sign bills.

  23. Nzelu nkupangwa indeed, why is our president behaving in a very redicurous manner akuyenera azitolele kuti we the bonafide citizens of republic of malawi should respect him otherwise he is loosing it little by little.

  24. Thumps up VP Chilima, this is the way to go after all when we were fighting for democracy this old man was away in USA. President Peter Muthalika forgets that his powers are drawn from the Malawi Constitution not Mulako wa Alomwe.More fire!

    1. and do you know who drafted the constitution you have referred to during the same ‘fighting for democracy’ period?

  25. How can the incompetent MEC competently run the parliamentary elections from which the compent PAC comes from? Something is not adding up.

      1. So what???? We are against this dulliest president Malawi has ever had! Too much mucus in his head

    3. Bakha Reasoning Capacity.. You think that can not happen? If their target was the president, they can only rig that section..

      1. There is too much dullness such that people avoid looking at facts since it is too much for them. I gues it is very difficult to relate incompetency to the outcome. THE FACT REMAINS THAT IF WE AGREE THAT MEC IS INCOMPETENT WE SHOULD ALSO AGREE THAT WHATEVER THEY MANAGED IS SUBSTANDARD (no selectiveness). Therefore, an over haul of the current MPs and Councillors should be done followed by firing of the MEC Team (very simple equation).

  28. Now I can confirm kuti chilima ngwaphuma, opupuluma ngati ntchentche. How does he expect APM to proceed with firing MEC Commissioners when the matter is yet to be determined by the supreme court?

    Awatu awa kuwapatsa u president akhoza kukhala ovuta zedi. Kuchuluka nzeru kopanda mzeru.

    Muwona naye nyekhwe APM

    1. Iwe ndiwe gwape weni weni, ku court sikuli nkhani ya ma commissioner ayi, kodi umbuli bwanji Cadet,

      1. The issue if competency of commissioners was first raised by concourt . If the higher court exonerates them bu saying the elections were credible then whatever the pac did would be null and void. From that perspective it really makes sense to have the parties wait for the outcome in the supreme court.

  30. This is very shocking to find that the very same people ( Commissioners) who messed up the election are the very same people organising the Fresh Election .

    Let them go and bring other in other capable individual, Mr Muntharika, what is so special with Jane Ansah and Team?? Why clinging on them?? Is there any hidden agenda btwn U that we don’t know?

    If u challenge to win Fresh Election with out right majority then adhere to Court ruling and Parliament recommendation. Why so scared Mr President??

    I’ ll borrow Mkaka’s words from what so called TONGA PHRASE, that when an Old Man is reluctant to get up from the seat which means he has dirtied himself ” Munthu wamkulu aka kakamila pa Mpando ziwani kuti wazionongera”” Muntharika waonongeradi pa mpando.

  32. one of the weaknesses of saulos chilima is he is rushing too much as such he is making too many mistakes. This is another mistake because he will be left holding the can of worms. chilima has failed to learn from other great leaders like bingu or mwagufuli. bingu was founder of udf and after failing be its presidential nominee in 1994, in frustration formed his own united party (up) which flopped heavily. bingu did not give bakili problems but stayed low bidding his time. bingu eventually was appointed RBM deputy governor and then minister of economic development before bakili made him president of udf. the rest is history.

    even magufuli he required the backing of kikwete, then ruling president. talk has it that even bakili required the blessing of kamuzu in order to succeed the old man. chilima cannot rebel and expect to get what he wants.

    1. Munthu ananena ku Kamuzu Institute for youth kuti Jane Ansah asachoke ayendetse chisankho chifukwa sangabele Now akupita ku khothi .Akuganiza chani stupid are still following him Asssssa za ziiii

  33. Nawe Chilima ma court akukuphwekela eti! Kumapusisidwa ndi Barton Kamchezela, pajamukuti ndipolitical commentator wanu, things that any person can say.

  34. That is the price when judges take sides instead of discharging their duties on merit.

    The 5 con court judges were surely bribed by Chilima n his entourage as such their judgment were not based on merit.

    As such the president is very right not to fire them.

    1. Do you have evidence that Chilima bribed them? There’s evidence that DPP wanted to bribe the judges , why? Mpinganjira was arrested, APM wanuyo mutu sukugwira mu DPP kugawikana kuli tho!

  35. this is a political problem and if the court is wise and neutral this injunction will not be granted. secondly chilima you have lost my respect and trust i voted for you once but thank God you are not standing again. Boy you are sure trouble, am worried for chakwera for he will be faced with the same problem should he ever disagree with chilima’s thoughts. anthu ngati chilima analeledwa ndi moyo woti they are special and get what they want if someone disagrees with them then they become dangerous to everyone.

  36. Akuopa angaulule za ku bedroom once fired. Something that doesnt need munthu wamkulu to guess.

  37. The constitutional court ruled that MEC was incompetent and parliament, representing the people of Malawi, passed a bill to the effect that MEC members should be fired.

    But APM thinks parliament’s decision is laughable. Who is he compared to the people of Malawi whose voice is through parliament? I support Chilima’s decision to take the acting president to court

  38. That’s great chilima,why Munthalika azidelera macourt athu.The court judgement said the commissioners and Jane Ansah failed to convince the constitution court that their conduct on presidential results was 100% good.These people received money to change results in favour of Peter Munthalika and DPP.Enough is enough, I believe it is the DPP that is stopping these commissioners from resigning, with some threats.Peter Munthalika is destroying Malawi mwadaladala.Malawi with her children will be there after Munthalika is gone.And the courts should tell us the meaning of this behaviour of Munthalika actions.In other countries ma commissioners amenewa akanathawa dziko limenero ndithu.What a president wosalemekeza malamulo. Ngati amafuna kulamulira kwanthawi yayitali bwenzi atasiya Kuba misonkho ya wanthu(145 million)corruption and bribes ndi zomwe amaziwa.No mercy malawians,dziko litukuke basi.Chilima is a great leader. Atleast some one should stand for the people, Munthalika is testing our patience.Why can’t he fail to fire these for nothing commissioners and Jane Ansah and appoint new people to handle the election process so that the country should be moving forward.When a president has no vision for the country,he uses force for everything,the military and police.To the military leadership,all leaders before you they worked in accordance with the constitution of the country.Citizens first.If the military will be following stupid orders then citizens will hate you.Mind you, those positions are not forever,tell Munthalika that he is not bigger than malawians.He has destroyed the police now it’s a party police.He thinks he can turn the military to be a party military.The same tactic Robert Mugabe did to Zimbabwe.

  39. Going to court or not going to court Jane the iron Lady is the MEC chairperson and she will be until 2024, the president has the power to fires or not to fire the Iron Lady ,Chilima phuma ,kuli zisankho pa 2 july osadekha bwanji ,izi zikuonetselatu kuti simunakonzeke kuchita nawo zisankho mukufuna kulanda utsogoleri osati kudzera pa zisankho

  40. In a democracy nothing works. Demos do not work. Courts do not work. ‘Day of rage’ do not work. ‘Prayer’ do not work. Nothing works. JUST MAKE SURE YOU HAVE food. And panado.

  41. A very good morning to you all wherever you are gentlemen.
    (1) politics for politicians
    (2) supporters and diehards to (politics
    and politicians)

  42. This is the problem when one is assured of all the backing from fellow college-mates who happen to be the current group of judges Malawi has. Them and Saulos were together at Chancellor College hence the courage he is having by suing with every other day that passes-by. But in life they say “Ukatamba udziyang’ana ku m’mawa” – soon Chilima will see the back of his head when tables turn against him. Most times God allows some things to happen just to show you that “mnyanga ya mtsatsi salirira”.
    By the way, are the courts in Malawi so free and naive that they will all the time shelve existing cases only to hear Chilima’s cries? Is he so indispensable that judges will be running helter-skelter just because he wants his cases heard? What a joke of the judicial system the country has.

  46. This case was actually initiated from the court itself when the chief justice met with Chilima and told him to bring such a case to the court so that the court rules on it. Actually I don’t understand this No sense that was ruled about incompetence of running the elections. What was established to have been run incompetently were the 2019 elections and not the 2020 elections. We know the corrupt judges are you going grant Chilima his wish because this is part of the great conspiracy to get even with APM.

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  49. Some lawyers including the MLS stated categorically that the President has not broken the law for not assenting the bills. Parliament has to review the bills again after 21 days upon receipt, debate then amended and send again to the President within three months whereby this second time he must assent. Failure to do so this time then you can drag him to court. We will see what the bribed biased concourt will say.

  50. That is the only way to go. Why not also on electral bills as 42 days is way off far beyond the election date set by the Concourt

  51. Abulutu Chilima, who administered parliamentary and assembly elections? It was Jane Ansah. Why then do your foolish and corrupt judges not annul the entirety of last year’s polls.

  52. Can Chilima ask the court to annul the elections results of MPs and councillors because its was Jane Ansah that administered those elections too.

  53. Desperado Chilima, stop pulling our country down. Parliament failed to change the constitution and illegally changed the Presidential and Parliamentary Act, why did you not take MPs to court?

  54. Chilima, you are also an interested party. You should blame the Concourt judges for pegging their ruling on political processes which they (as judges) can’t control. President Mutharika has the prerogative to assent to bill or not to assent to Bill’s. Those judges who you bribed should have foreseen that their judgement would be mired in political processes. By the way, did parliament manage to change the constitution? NO. Why did you not take parliament to court then?

  55. My own view is that Peter Muthalika should not be making decisions that are related to the elections to which he is an interested party. He clearly does not want go ahead with the rerun vote hence these tricks. I feel that when the ConCourt annulled the presidential vote, there should have been an appointment of a National Consultative Committee to run the affairs of state until the next president was elected. Just like what happened at the down of Multiparty. They should have been given the power to implement these changes and by now we would have a new electoral commission and the preparation for the vote would have been in full swing.

    Am in agreement with one commentator on these pages who said Muthalika is making appointments and changes to the army and high court to put in place people who can make decisions favourable to him in order to cement his grip on power and frustrate the vote. He is just reluctant to put into law electoral changes that he knows are to his detriment. It does not make sense.

  58. Something is not Adding up what exactly is btn, Jane,Apm, and the commissioners amalawi talankhula moveka but am very surprised to what our lovely president is up to.

    2. Is it lawful or unlawful to appeal a judgement? Slow down, malamulo amalola zimene Pitala akuchita musaone kuchdwa. Malamulo amenewa tinapanga tokha chifukwa cha nkhanza za MCP eg detention without trial. Chilima ndiwe wapakaliya usapupulume unagiver kale u president. Chilima ur ambition is slowly changing, at first you wanted to president, not u have settled for VP a position ur currently occupying. Next u may go back to work as CEO.

    3. Angoyidandaulira USA zonse zitheka mofulumira. Wawona zija adawona former President waku Gambia.

    4. Eti inu, I reckon there is something sinister Anshan & APM kno about n that can only be put under wraps if they maintain their positions therefore they’ll try all means to stay in their positions, afiti siungawamvetse

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