Retired judge’s chilling warning: Malawi facing ‘WAR’ between Parliament and the Presidency over constitutional row

A retired judge has issued a stark warning that Malawi could be heading for an explosive constitutional showdown between Parliament and the Presidency, as the Malawi Law Society remains conspicuously silent on the growing crisis.

Justice Dunstain Mwaungulu, a respected legal and political commentator, says the escalating dispute over the National Assembly’s power to set up ad hoc committees risks spiralling into a full-blown confrontation between the two arms of government.

The retired judge branded the government’s latest statement — which questions the authority of the Speaker and National Assembly to establish such committees — as downright confusing, pointing out an apparent contradiction at its heart.

According to Justice Mwaungulu, government appears to accept that Parliament holds an oversight mandate, yet is simultaneously challenging the very power of the National Assembly to create the committees needed to carry out that oversight.

He took particular aim at government’s reading of Section 56(6) of the Constitution, branding its interpretation of the word “Parliament” as deeply problematic. The context of the provision, he insists, makes clear the power in question belongs to the National Assembly alone — not the broader definition of Parliament that includes the President and Senate, as government contends.

The judge also demanded to know why the Chief Secretary issued the controversial statement without, in his view, first taking into account Parliament’s own official position on standing and ad hoc committees.

Sounding the alarm, Justice Mwaungulu warned that statements from one arm of government should never be used as a weapon to undermine the constitutional authority of another, cautioning that the row threatens to inflame tensions between the Executive and the Legislature still further.

In his most damning remarks, the judge said it was simply unacceptable for outsiders to watch the Secretary to the President make a unilateral pronouncement on an issue that concerns an entirely separate branch of government — chillingly warning the standoff could ultimately culminate in “a war between the two branches of government.”