Vote for Chakwera to send Mutharika, Goodall to retirement – Khumbo

Former vice-president Khumbo Kachale has urged Malawians to vote for    Malawi Congress Party (MCP) president Lazarus Chakwera to be the country’s leader and send octogenarians  President Peter Mutharika together with his advisor Goodall Gondwe to retirement.

Kachali, who served as vice-president to former president Joyce Banda from April 2012,  said this in Mzimba when Chakwera addressed a campaign meeting.

He said Mutharika and Gondwe deserve to be on “pension benefits” other than being on frontline providing leadership.

Among others, under the Presidents (Salaries and Benefits) Act, a former president or vice-president is also entitled to a tax-free monthly pension at 50 percent of his/her salary and a vehicle. They are also entitled to free electricity, water, medical, security services and return air tickets for holiday to a destination of his or her choice in the world.

Malawians go to polls on June 23 for a fresh presidential election after the country’s estranged Vice-President Saulos Chilima—who contested as UTM Party presidential candidate— and Chakwera were granted their wish by the court to have the election nullified for alleged irregularities, especially in the results management system.

A five-judge panel of the High Court of Malawi sitting as a Constitutional Court on February 3 2020 nullified the election and ordered a fresh presidential election within 150 days. Mutharika and Malawi Electoral Commission appealed the judgement, but a seven-judge panel of the Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal led by Nyirenda upheld the lower court’s decision.