Jeffrey moves to block her removal
Embattled Democratic Progressive Party secretary general Grezelder Jeffrey has moved the High Court of Malawi to stop the party from removing her from her role to that of vice-president responsible for the Central Region.
Through her lawyer Cassius Chidothe, Jeffrey on December 8 applied for an order to stop party president Peter Mutharika from removing her from her current position.
The lawyer said the matter was of extreme importance.
The application, made to the High Court of Malawi after DPP central committee met at Mutharika’s residence in Mangochi and confirmed Jeffrey’s removal, also seeks to stop the appointment of Clement Mwale as new secretary general until a determination of the court.
The court has set December 12 for hearing before High Court Judge Howard Pemba.
Meanwhile, Mutharika yesterday announced that he had removed Kondwani Nankhumwa as vice-president for the Southern Region.
In a statement, Mutharika said the Mulanje Cetral parliamentarian, who is also Leader of Opposition in Parliament, will now be presidential adviser. He has been replaced by Mulanje South West legislator George Chaponda.
Commenting on the ongoing cases for DPP, University of Malawi (Unima) professor of law Garton Kamchedzera questioned the rationale for the High Court to set a date to hear earlier applications involving DPP on its convention outside the 90 days which it gave earlier.
High Court Judge Simeon Mdeza on September 29 gave the party 90 days to hold a duly constituted national governing council (NGC) and convention. The 90 days ends on December 28.
However, the applicants in the case led by Mulanje Central legislator and DPP vice-president responsible for the South Kondwani Nankhumwa applied for an enforcement of the order while the party applied for a stay of the judgement. The applications will all be heard on January 12 2024.
In an interview, Kamchedzera argued that the court erred and that all the confusion in the DPP emanate from the court decisions.
He said: “A judgement that is not reversed must be complied with, if not set aside pending an appeal. I am not aware of an appeal against the ruling made on 29 September 2023. Apparently, new applications and a new date may relate to new matters and not those the judge settled in his September ruling.
“Placing the date outside the 90 days set in the judgement to hear consolidated applications appears to be a clear mistake by the judge. The lawyers in the matters before the court need to apply to the judge to rectify the court’s error in setting a date contrary to its own judgement.”
Kamchedzera said the DPP leadership should lead the party to comply with the ruling made by the High Court on September 29 and that the NGC meeting which former secretary general Grezelder Jeffrey convened last Wednesday was a nullity.
Private practice lawyer John-Gift Mwakhwawa said on Wednesday that even though Jeffrey argued that the meeting was in keeping with the September 29 High Court of Malawi ruling that ordered the party to hold a convention within 90 days, her failure to follow laid out procedures rendered the resolutions at the meeting void.
Meanwhile, the DPP central committee meeting agreed that the NGC should meet on December 13.
The DPP constitution mandates the central commitee to set dates for the NGC meeting, call for a convention and determine the agenda for it.
The SG is then supposed to consult the party leader on the NGC meeting, which then meets and setss dates for the convention.
Fighting within the party emerged in August 2020 when Jeffrey declared that Mutharika had fulfilled his role and called for an early convention to appoint a new leader.
