Lawyer Justin Dzonzi says Malawi President Joyce Banda cannot disown responsibility of presiding over the Capital Hill looting, but it would be up to Parliament to determine if that breach of the Constitution is impeachable.
Dzonzi, who is executive director for Justice Link, said although calls by the civil society for the President to quit are not legally binding, it would be up to Banda to be guided by own conscience to respect any calls by delegates to the Public Affairs Committee (PAC) third All-Inclusive Stakeholders’ Conference to step down.
Dzonzi spoke in an interview on Saturday in reaction to revelations that delegates to the PAC conference may call for the resignation of President Banda if the ongoing forensic audit will link her name to the Capital Hill looting.
The lawyer said Section 86(2) of the Constitution states that a President may be impeached only if indicted and convicted of serious violation of the Constitution or serious breach of any written laws of the Republic of Malawi.
He said: “Given that the cashgate scandal has arisen from a deliberate dereliction of duty by public officers entrusted to protect the public purse under the watch of the President, she cannot shirk responsibility from this mess.”
He further quoted Section 173(1) of the Constitution which states that no money shall be withdrawn from the consolidated fund except to meet expenditure that is charged upon the fund by law.
“There is no doubt, therefore, that it is a violation of this provision for any person to withdraw money from Account Number 1 Cwithout legal authority. The question whether or not any such violation is an impeachable offence would be up to Parliament which has the mandate to impeach a President,” observed Dzonzi.
He said active citizenship was one of the core foundations of vibrant democratic governance and that holding of PAC’s conference was a critical component of civic engagement and participation of ordinary citizens and active politicians over an important issue such as cashgate.
On calls for the President to throw in the towel, the legal activist said the Constitution guarantees the freedom of expression and that it was within the rights of PAC to offer its own solutions to cashgate.
The lawyer, however, said as the adage says that ‘khoswe akakhala pa mkhate sapheka’, since it was likely that People’s Party (PP) cronies were the primary beneficiaries the looting, it would be difficult to conclusively deal with the matter.
PP deputy publicity secretary Ken Msonda said the President has shown determination to root out fraud and corruption which was entrenched in the government system for a long time and that Malawians are capable of judging her sincerity.
“In the same way, the PP knows that Malawians are capable to judge for themselves the sincerity of anyone who wants to discuss these matters,” he said.
PAC executive director Robert Phiri said his organisation believes that there was need to have a thorough follow-up on the cashgate crisis and that most Malawians do not feel that the forensic exercise would yield the desired results.
On the allegations of asking the President to resign, Phiri said: “PAC will provide a forum for people to freely express themselves. Let people demand what they want to demand rather than oppressing divergent views. Whether the demands made are feasible or not is another question.”
