Second Vice-President Enoch Chihana yesterday chaired a Cabinet meeting with the Office of the President and Cabinet justifying that the law allows the arrangement.
President Peter Mutharika is in Blantyre and may not have physically attended the meeting held at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe.
First Vice-President Jane Ansah also did not attend the meeting despite being at her office at Capital Hill.
Chief Secretary to the Government Justin Saidi in an interview yesterday said the President used his prerogative to assign Chihana to chair and stated that there is nothing wrong with the arrangement.
“The law allows the President to delegate the Second Vice-President. It also allows the President to delegate the First Vice-President,” he said.
But lawyer-cum-gender rights activist Seodi White yesterday faulted the arrangement and described it as a breach of the Constitution in Section 92(3), which provides that where the President is temporarily unavailable, the First VP can chair the Cabinet meeting and where the First VP is unavailable the Second VP can do the honours.
White, in a written response, said the chairing of Cabinet was a matter of constitutional procedure, not just presidential prerogative.
She said the Constitution establishes a clear order of succession of presiding over Cabinet meetings.
Said White: “A Cabinet meeting chaired by someone who has no authority to preside, notably the Second Vice-President, when the First Vice-President is available, is constitutionally irregular and procedurally defective.
“In constitutional law, actions taken by a body that is improperly constituted may be challenged as ultra vires [beyond lawful authority]. Decisions taken at such a meeting could be declared null and void by the courts.”
She said the Constitution does not use the word “delegate” in relation to presiding over Cabinet meetings, but instead gives the First VP and Second VP the right to preside in the President’s temporary absence.
“This is not a discretionary delegation by the President—it is a constitutional provision that automatically applies when the specified absences occur,” insisted White.
On why Ansah was not attending the meeting when she was seen within Lilongwe, Saidi said: “I do not know anything on that. Check with her office.”
However, Office of the Vice-President spokesperson Richard Mveriwa could not explain why the VP was absent from the meeting and referred The Nation back to Saidi.
But Mveriwa confirmed that Ansah was in Lilongwe yesterday and worked from her office at Capital Hill.
Meanwhile, the issue also surfaced in Parliament in Lilongwe yesterday with Dedza Kasina legislator Joshua Malango [Malawi Congress Party) seeking clarification on why Ansah was allegedly being sidelined from chairing Cabinet meetings despite being available and capable of doing so.
Making his submission under Standing Order 69 that allows members of Parliament to rise and seek immediate clarification or answers on matters of administrative or ministerial concern, he asked Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Charles Mhango to explain why Chihana chaired yesterday’s Cabinet meeting instead of Ansah when the President was in Blantyre.
“Why is the Vice-President, who was elected together with the President, not chairing the meeting?” Malango asked.
Speaker of the National Assembly Sameer Suleman intervened and said the matter was “an internal government issue” and advised the legislator to follow the appropriate parliamentary procedures.
“Otherwise, the issue that you’re raising now is an in-house government issue. Government is machinery; it knows what it’s doing and we just have to work with what government is doing,” he said.
Until mid-June this year, the President faced criticism for not delegating the two VPs and instead opting for Cabinet ministers to preside over some national events.
However, later in June the President delegated Chihana to represent him at a high-level Southern African Development Community (Sadc) summit. He also represented the President at another Sadc gathering.
