Chakwera tipped on VP replacement

President Lazarus Chakwera has until June 19 to appoint a new Vice-President (VP) replacing the late Saulos Chilima who died in a plane crash on Monday, with some pundits urging him to pick from UTM Party.

In separate interviews, the pundits said they feel the President faces a huge dilemma to appoint the new VP as he needs to reconcile moral, political and cultural demands in his choice.

In this regard, they urged him to appoint a replacement from Chilima’s party, UTM and not the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) which he leads.

Under Section 84 (2) of the Constitution, the law stipulates that “The President shall appoint a person to filI the vacancy in the Office of First Vice President within seven days from the date the vacancy arose.”

In a statement yesterday, Malawi Law Society (MLS) president Patrick Mpaka said considering that the deceased and Chakwera took oath of office on June 28 2020 in terms of Section 83 of the Constitution, the President has seven days to make a new appointment.

He said: “…the Malawi Law Society advises the general public that under Section 84 and 88 of the Constitution as read with Section 45 of the General Interpretation Act, His Excellency President Lazarus Chakwera is required to appoint a replacement Vice-President within seven days after the death of the Vice President and in computing the seven-day period from the date of death to exclude any Sunday or public holiday.

“As such, it is expected that by and not later than 19th June 2024, President Lazarus Chakwera should have appointed a person to replace the late Right Honourable Dr Saulos Klaus Chilima in the constitutional office of a Vice-President.”

In an interview yesterday, Ernest Thindwa, an expert in electoral and identity politics, noted that the choice of the VP will not be the easiest of political decisions by Chakwera as it will likely come under heavy public scrutiny.

He said: “Any appointment other than from UTM Party will be extremely challenging to politically justify to the extent that the mandate to govern was won through a joint electoral ticket.”

On his part, Wonderful Mkhutche, another political pundit said it will be politically correct for the President to appoint someone from the UTM Party, specifically, Michael Usi who was Chilima’s deputy.

He said: “If the President appoints someone from MCP, it will darken his political image as someone who is self-serving.

“This will also displace UTM votes from the alliance, and looking for the next home, these supporters may settle for UTM in a ‘revenge vote’.”

Political Science Association of Malawi spokesperson Mavuto Bamusi added that appointing a VP from MCP will create an impression that Chilima’s death has brought political comfort to MCP.

“This presents a dilemma where Chakwera needs to balance narrow political interests with a broad national agenda for national healing,” he said.

But former University of Malawi associate professor of law Mwiza Jo Nkhata said Chakwera is not bound to choose the new VP from within the alliance.

“The arrangements forming and governing the alliance are not based on the Constitution, while succession to the VP’s office is premised on constitutional provisions,” he said.

Chakwera and Chilima led the Tonse Alliance in the June 2020 fresh presidential elections, which toppled Peter Mutharika of the Democratic Progressive Party.