‘Professor of breaking the law?’ Mutharika in MHRC appointments mess, urged to hire new commissioners
President Peter Mutharika has been advised to nullify the recent appointment of the Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) following his unconstitutional returning of Baldwin Chiyamwaka and Rev. Mrs Cecilia Kotima as Commissioners who were outside the nominated list presented to the President by the Law Commissioner and Ombudsman.
Mutharika last week appointed new commissioners for the 7th Cohort of MHRC constituting of Dr Sunduzwayo Madise, Boniface Massa, Chiyamwaka, Dr Bertha Sefu, Stella Twea, Scader Louis and Rev. Cecilia Kotia. The seven were joined by two ex-officio the Law Commissioner and Ombudsman.
However, it is the appointment of media consultant n Chiyamwaka and Rev. Cecilia Kotima who were neither nominated by any eligible organisations nor appearing on the list of those submitted to the President by the Ombudsman and the Law Commissioner for appointment as Commissioners which has raised eye brows, a scenario that has subsequently forced the Ombudsman Martha Chizuma to write the Office of the President and Cabinet to reverse the decision as it’s a clear violation of the Law.
In a letter addressed to the Chief Secretary to the Government Lloyd Muhara – which Nyasa Times has seen –the Ombudsman argues that the President cannot make any appointment outside the nominated list presented to him, and that both the Constitution and the Human Rights Act never gave him such powers.
“Accordingly, the changes that have been made in the appointments are not in any way supported by the law. Accordingly based on the oath of office that I took I consider it is my duty to bring the same to your attention as I cannot in good faith and clear conscience choose to ignore such anomaly,” reads part of the letter signed by Chizuma.
Further reads the letter: “Your Lordship, let me also bring to your attention and, accordingly advise, that Section 4(4) of the Act requires that ‘ a list of names of nominating organizations, names of persons nominated and names of persons formally appointed by the President and the resultant membership of the Commission be published in the Gazette. It is evident that the name of Rev. Mrs Cecilia Kotima would be hanging as it would be without nomination.
“Otherwise, the inclusion of the name of Mr. Chiyamwaka, which was not recommended to the President by myself and the Law Commissioner, could be interpreted as usurping the powers vested in the Law Commissioner and the Ombudsman. Since the development would be in the public domain following the gazetting herein, it is likely that this would affect the credibility and independence of the Commission as a National Human Rights Institution.
“Moreover, because of its departure from the law, this anomaly is likely to be open to all sorts of legal challenges and therefore further incapacitate the commission and human rights governance in the country both of which are undesirable situations”, reads the letter by the Ombudsman
Chizuma then recommended that the President should reverse the decision by ensuring that he appoints from the submitted list
“In view of the foregoing, Your Lordship, I write to request that the State President be accordingly advised to only appoint commissioners for the 7th Cohort of the Commission from the list of nominations presented to him by myself and the Law Commissioner. I further request that swearing in of members of the 7th Cohort of the Commission be delayed to allow room for corrections herein. I wait in anticipation for your intervention”, reads the last part by the Ombudsman letter.
A reliable source -who spoke on condition of anonymity – confided in Nyasa Times that amongst the list of names that were submitted to President Peter Mutharika by the Ombudsman and the Law Commissioner were those of Rev. Patrick Semphere and Chikondi Chijozi – a human rights lawyer and deputy executive director of CHREA- but President Mutharika under the influence of State House officials replaced the two with Chiyamwaka and Rev. Kotio who are believed to be ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) stooges.
Meanwhile, a renowned governance and political commentator Makhumbo Munthali has cautioned President Mutharika to tread carefully on the matter and is of the strong view that “the only amicable way to resolve such a mess is for President Mutharika to nullify the whole recent appointment of MHRC Commissioners.”
Munthali said Mutharika should make “a fresh appointments” of Commissioners “based on the nomination list submitted to him for appointment by the Ombudsman and Law Commissioner.
“Otherwise as it stands now the recent appointment is illegal and unconstitutional,” he added.
Hr said it is regrettable to note that President Mutharika continues to make the same mistakes on these matters of law despite him not only taking the oath to defend the Constitution but also being a professor of Law.
“ A few months ago President Mutharika allowed the former Law Commissioner Mrs Gertrude Hiwa SC to continue performing her duties as a Law Commissioner despite the expiry of her term to the extent of co-signing a call for submission of names of MHRC Commissioners. However, it took the efforts some human rights defenders to challenge such unconstitutional decision, and Mutharika had to act in the process we saw the process being redone.
“Now today to wake up to the news that Mutharika has not learnt from his past mistakes is not only disgusting but a typical case of a President who thrives on politics of poverty of ideas and has no regard for Constitutionalism. This decision does not reflect well on him. It a serious Constitutional violation that must not be tolerated lest posterity judges us harshly”, said Munthali, who was the first human rights defender to challenge Mutharika’s decision to extend the term of the former Law Commissioner after the expire of the same.
The Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) has condemned Mutharika’s decision on the appointments of the two Commissioners.
“As human rights defenders we would like to register our disappointment at this development. In our view this regularity is intended to weaken the mandate of the Malawi Human Rights Commission in monitoring and making decisions regarding the rights situation before, during and after the elections. For these reasons, HRDC demands that the current appointment be declared null and void because it displays a total lack of transparency and accountability on the part of the State and (if) this demand is not met, HRDC will have no option but to seek legal redress on the matter,” reads the letter signed by HRDC Chairperson Timothy Mtambo and HRDC Vice Chairperson Gift Trapence
Constitutional law expert from Chancellor College, Edge Kanyongolo, has also backed the Ombudsman, saying her observation is correct and based on law. While State House says it needs time to appreciate how the process was carried out.
According to section 130 of the Constitution, MHRC has powers of investigation and recommendation as are reasonably necessary for the effective promotion of human rights.
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TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT BUT MR LLOYD MUHARA HAS DONE THIS GOVERNMENT MORE HARM THAN GOOD. I REALLY DONT UNDERSTAND WHY THE PRESIDENT KEEPS THIS MAN IN OFFICE AS HIS CHIEF SECRETARY. MUHARA IS THE SOURCE OF ALL NEPOTISTIC APPOINTMENTS IN GOVERNMENT. RECENTLY, MUTHARIKA APPOINTED WILSON MOLENI AS PS FOR DISASTER. MOLENI WAS WORKING WITH NBS BANK IF NOT OPPORTUNITY BANK IN MZUZU. HE WAS CHAIR OF MULHAKO WA ALHOMWE NORTHERN CAME BACK AS PS. REALLY? OF COURSE MOLENI COULD BE QUALIFIED AND HAS THE RIGHT TO BE APPOINTED, BUT WHAT CRITERIA DID THE CHIEF SECRETARY AND THE PRESIDENT USE? WE HAVE SO MANY DESERVING PEOPLE IN GOVERNMENT WHO HAVE SERVED THIS COUNTRY WELL.. THIS IS SAD.
BELOW ARE SOME OF THE APPOINTMENTS IN THIS GOVERNMENT THAT ARE CONNECTED TO MULHAKO,
HERE ARE THE EXAMPLES:
1. ELVIS THODI, MULHAKO EXECUTIVE MEMBER AND NOW HE IS DG FOR NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE BUREAU
2. GIFT DULLA, MULHAKO EXECUTIVE MEMBER AND NOW CEO FOR NOCMA
3. MELVIS MANGULENJE, MULHAKO EXECUTIVE MEMBER NOW CEO FOR MARDEF
4. EUNICE NAPOLO, MULHAKO EXECUTIVE MEMBER AND NOW CEO FOR MHC
5. AUBREY SUMBULETA, MBC
6. PROF SEYANI, FORMER CHAIR OF MULHAKO AND NOW HEADING NATIONAL HERBARIUM RECALLED FROM RETIREMENT
7. JEAN MATHANGA, MULHAKO EXECUTIVE MEMBER AND NOW COMMISSIONER AT MEC
8. THE LIST CPNTINUES………………
Zanu izo otsutsanu. Muwona kuti mupanga bwanji. Mwakula mwatha.
DPP booooooomaaaaaa.
Profesa of /in Law
Cut and paste job
As a Lomwe am very embarrassed by the conduct of the DPP Government that I used to love. I am now convinced that the President just signs documents that are either cooked up or altered by the uneducated crooks that he has chosen to surround himself with and are making him look incompetent.
It is unimaginable to see a Chief Secretary (Mr Muhara) who is a Judge not able to pick these anomalies and correct them before the President signs such important documents. In addition it is also unimaginable to see a President who is a Professor of Law not able to refer to the Law of the Land before he signs important documents that impact the constitutionality of managing tha affairs of Malawi!
The fact that these incidents keep on happening shows that DPP Government is not serious to govern and those holding positions of influence are in it for personal gains. Truly there are people in Government including the Chief Secretary who are purposely making the President look very incompetent to appear powerful fixers for their to those who need favour and also enrich themselves.
Frankly Malawi deserves better and certainly does not deserve to be a circus for this show law breakers. Some of us from the belt are fed up of being picked at as gullible and greedy people who only care about ourselves and not the well-being of the whole nation. We fear of the generations to come that stand the risk of being atigmatised and also victimized in return. It’s myopic to behave like you do not have kids that after you will require to Ben respected and treated as equals.
Mr President please run this country to fit your image as the decorated Law Professor. Rule of Law bestowed on your office cannot tolerate Human Rights to be played with or trivialized as the case above seems to suggest. It’s really demeaning to your position and your status as a highly learned person to allow your crooks keep on making you look like a novice and a joke by the endless deliberate flouting of the laws! Wake up and fire these zombies please for the good of the country!
The list of wrong appointments is increasing by month. One of the Accountant General is being queried while in the same public financial management sector you have the botched appointment of the Auditor General unresolved to this day. Every other public sector is affected in one form or the other. Look at the Ministry of Health; Just this month your zombies have lied to Malawians in your name that you selected specialist doctors for promotions when the truth is that their goal was to promote the wife of Namarika by the name of Jessie to P2 position. Jessie is a dentist and how does she become a specialist doctor? From inside information this was done in your name when clearly you had nothing to do with the list.
Mr President your crooks are using the phrase “It has pleaded His Excellency….” through the Chief Secretary to flout the laws and fool Malawians into submission to accept appointments that you do not know anything about or you have not endorsed. In other words your name is being used for personal interests of your crooks where and when matters of law are being flouted. Another example is the appointment of Moses Chisale as CEO in a parastatal organization and this as per evidence has been done in a very embarrassing and very fraudulent manner full of discrimination, disregard for rule of law, nepotism, cover ups and favoritism of highest order.
Moses Chisale as per reports from Central Stores where he worked as director has been forced to retire because he is well above the mandatory retirement age of 60 in public service and therefore hi she wishes to have an employment contract renewed we’re rejected. But as usual your crooks have found ways of lying to Malawians that you have chosen him to be CEO in another parastatal. If not have hoodwinked you to accept the guy as still fit for employment in public service. Surely this cannot be true and right. What kind of public service is your government creating Mr President? These selective application of rules and lack of fairness and justice have no room in the Malawi we all should enjoy. Moses is in his mid 60s in age and by the definition of mandatory retirement age he has over lived his stay in public service. Just because Moses Chisale is a bother of Norman Chisale at the State House should not be the nepotistic qualification that should be forced on parastatal board and all of us to accept him as a special person over others. Mr President am a Lomwe but I can tell you that people in Malawi are now fed up with the level of discrimination, nepotism and other different forms of victimizations those who are not Lomwe are subjected to.
Those of us who respect and love you are convinced that many of these questionable decisions especially on appointments are a result of crooks taking advantage of your name and trust ifor their personal interests.
Mr President we ask you in the name of God the Almighty to wake up and for once put all Malawians first before these crooks. I am one of the many Lomwes ……from the belt who are ready to ditch DPP if there isn’t no change for better because the disregard for rule of law is increasingly by day under your watch and soon we could have a Malawi where democracy is just another English word.
Well Said! If the President’s ears are open, let him hear! If his eyes are open let him see what is on the ground. But if he is Deaf and Blind, the President will do nothing!!!
Nkana tikuti Peter and DPP outt
Wongani Chiuta, the president has a final say or decision, nothing can ombudsman do. She suggest the names and it is up to the president to approve or disapproval. This shows you that the president has a final say, otherwise, it was not going to go to him to approve, the ombudsman would have released the names. I don’t think there is a law to bar the person to be reappointed if they have done well. You may hate the president but He has the powers to reverse if he feels the ombudsman failed or the appointed persons does not have the experience , skills and knowledge required for the position.
@ favour
These are constitutional matters simungavese mbuyache. The best you can do is to refrain from commenting on such matters lest you display to the whole nation your level of ignorance. These are matters of law not politics choncho khalani chete inu dziko likusekani mwamva
A Terorist Mchacha, inu ndi amene simukudziwa. The president has used the same constitutional powers to do what he has done, and the ombudsman cannot reverse it.
@ favour
Shiiiiiiii khalani chete. Mukunenazi nzopanda nzeru
A citizen, you know nothing. The president has made it according to his constitutional powers. Tell me if it will be reversed, I bet you, you continue being a frustrated person for the rest of your life.
That’s not true. We are a democracy, remember? That thinking is the whole reason we Want an urgent change before the majority gets to be corrupt in mind like that . please lets for once stop being opusa, we have statutes of governance that are clear.
Here is a perfect example of a DPP puppet. Laws are very clear but he chooses to think differently just because it is APM at the centre of it.
Akulu inu muzimvetsa nkhani musanayambe kulembe zambererazi. Akuti ma commissioners amayamba asankhidwa ndi ma bungwe oyenera, kenako mayina amapita kwa Pulezidenti kuti a Pulezudentiwo asankhepo oyenera kukhara ma commissioners, osati kuti a Pulezidenti akasankhe kunja kwa mayina amene asankhidwa ndi ma bungwe oyenerawo.
This is yet another form of the corruption that the DPP is noted for. Let us please get them out of office on 21 May.
Clearly the old man is going senile, and he is surrounded by useless clowns.
Kkkkkkkk Madam Ombudsman agundikatu !
Kodi atswanya malamulo?
@ zambulo
Monga mwanthawi zonse inde aphwanyanso. Akula agogowa inu
Thats the exact question peter muthalika is likely asking his aids now.
Kkkkkkkkk commission without rendering the services. My foot. Bwampini stop all these nonsense kom8shons that take us nowhere.
Can we wait till after 22 pls. Stop kutipaka phula apa. Madise? Mmhhhh
Khaya
Pulofesa wophwnya malamulo. Pitala yamba kupakira, ife UTM ikulowa m’boma palibe za chibwana. No corruption, no nepotism, no tribalism. Economic Freedom for all. No time to waste. Voterani UTM
Mwati uyu ndi professor wa malamulo.
Problem is that the president is under the control of uneducated idiots at state house
Tikamati awa na paawa Amalawi munabesa mumaona ngati nsanje koma zochita zaawa amakhala ngati akulira mumalawi oti sanatulukepo kuona mmene anzao amaiko otukuka amapangira pakhani zandale kapena chitukuko.Kaya 21 may ndiye ili paphuno ndiye mMalawi akalawilire nkuvoteranso mavutowa!!!!
Pajatu akumati bwanawa si andale, which means all this is being done to the best of his knowledge in law from the US. Koma abale, kuilakwiratu US uku😁
Koma mwati ma assignment in his law class biggie Wa ankalembadi okha?🙄. Looks like he doesn’t understand most basic laws. Kaya mwina
Come on, give us a break come 21. May from this poor, selfish and arrogant leadership we have!
There is a Professor of law in charge, but they behave like our laws and constitution is just theirs?!