High Court reserves ruling on DPP SG wrangle
High Court Judge Howard Pemba has reserved his ruling on an application by estranged Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) secretary general (SG) Grezelder Jeffrey to suspend DPP president Peter Mutharika’s decision to remove.
Mutharika recently removed Jeffrey from the position of SG and appointed her as the party’s vice-president for the Central Region, replacing her with Clement Mwale.
However, Jeffrey through her lawyer Cassius Chidothe sought the court’s intervention on the matter, challenging whether the party president has powers to remove an SG that was elected by the party at a convention.
Said Chidothe: “The question that is being posed is whether you can be removed from an elected position by a person you were elected together.”
Jeffrey also sought an order of the court to suspend Mutharika’s decision to assign her to the position of vice-president Central Region until the determination of the matter or a further order of the court, among others.
She is also seeking an injunction restraining Mwale or his servants or his agents from exercising the powers and functions of DPP SG and restraining Mutharika and DPP or their agents from stopping Jeffrey from exercising her powers as secretary general or interfering with her work and also recognising Mwale as secretary general.
The court heard the matter yesterday heard the application and arguments from both sides. However, the judge reserved his ruling to not later than seven days.
Pemba also dismissed another application by Jeffrey to have the court grant a temporary injunction to restrain Mutharika and the party from not recognising her as SG while the parties wait for the court ruling on the application within the seven days.
