Malawi’s ex-ruling party DPP ‘disbands’: Cannot take part in legal political activities
A legal expert has said that the missing of the seal for Malawi’s former ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) might mean the end of the journey for the nine-year old political grouping as the party without such a common seal can no longer participate in any political national activities.
The legal expert also said that although the party has indicated that it will start a process of getting a new seal, the process is not as easy as it sounds as the party will require legal endorsement from original trustees of the party to get a new seal.
According to a newspaper notice posted by DPP Secretary General Jean Kalirani it is suspected that one of the party’s top officials took the party seal away.
Party insiders have disclosed that for the past four weeks the party politburo has been trying to deal with the matter internally and force people to mention the one who took the seal but the part has yielded nothing thereby forcing Kalirani to come in the open and post the notice in the local newspapers.
The legal expert who chose not to be mentioned said, in the absence of a seal, the DPP is legally non-existent and cannot play a part in any legally sanctioned political process in Malawi.
“As an institution you cannot effectively operate without a Common Seal, especially in the decision making processes. Legally speaking the seal is the party meaning all decisions of the party have to be endorsed by it,” said the expert adding.
“Without a Seal there is no decision,” he added.
The notice in the papers say that if the Seal is not returned within seven days the party will render it lost.
However, the expert said even after declaring it lost, DPP will face a strenuous exercise of getting a new seal.
“If it is lost, the replacement process involves the organization’s trustees because they are the owners of the organisation. I hope the DPP still has its founding trustees within its rank and file otherwise the process may become complicated for them,” he said.
