MCP ‘violates’ own constitution

 The governing Tonse Alliance’s main partner Malawi Congress Party (MCP) national executive committee (NEC) is set to cling to power beyond its constitutional l y prescribed five-year mandate, it has emerged.

The move, as confirmed by MCP spokesperson the Reverend Maurice Munthali, has attracted condemnation from within the party and analysts , branding it as violation of its constitution.

President Lazarus Chakwera’s NEC was elected in May 2018. The party’s constitution demands that the committee stays for five years meaning that tenure expires in May this year.

Article 35 (1) reads: “Members of the national executive committee, except the regional chairpersons, shall be elected by the party convention and shall hold office for five (5) years.”

In an interview, Munthali acknowledged that their tenure expires this year while confirming that the party’s elective convention will be held next year.

He said: “MCP does not need to be reminded that the constitution demands that we have to meet as a convention every five years.

“We knew that from 2018 the year for another convention is 2023 but then as national executive committee we agreed, on behalf of the party, that we should hold the convention one year ahead of the election. That was the only reason.

“This does not necessarily mean that we have worked against our constitution because we knew that we were going to meet in 2023.”

Munthali further said the resolution to shift the elective convention was due to the change in the country’s electoral calendar following a court ruling that annulled the 2019 presidential election results.

The High Court, in its verdict that ordered the fresh presidential election in 2020, changed the next tripartite electoral year from 2024 to 2025.

When told that analysts have argued that the NEC will be discharging its duties illegally if it does not get approval from the convention to continue operating, Munthali said, NEC legitimised itself.

“What we are saying is that it is the same Malawi Congress Party through the NEC members that agreed to shift the convention to 2024 and that as far as I am concerned meant that those holding office will do so until the next convention.

“To me, the resolution by the national executive committee on the positions were legitimised until the elective convention,” he said.

However, the party’s former Kasungu West constituency legislator Alex Major has opposed the NEC stand as illegal since it does not have the mandate to extend its own tenure.

Major, who is also spokesperson of the MCP’s pressure group Second Liberation of Malawi National/Malawi Congress Party, insisted that the party will hold the convention this year.

He added that they will disregard the decisions of NEC once its term expires in May as legally not binding.

Major said: “Before a decision is made the party structure needs to be informed whereby a general consensus is reached. This did not happen.

“We are told that this decision at the NEC meeting did not come as an agenda item. The secretary general brought up that issue as a communication.

“Who sat down and did that communication? Nobody knows. Again, it was not circulated to the general membership of the party structure. Whoever made that decision does not have that mandate.”

Legal expert Lonnex Kachamba also dismissed the party’s argument that it shifted the elective convention due to change in the country’s electoral calendar.

“MCP is guided by its constitutional provisions and not by the country’s electoral laws. The party’s argument is flawed and misplaced. The mandate extension is not legally binding,” he said.

Kachamba added: “Article 31(3) as read with article 35(1) of the MCP constitution is clear on electing NEC members through a convention and binding the members to a five-year tenure.

“For the sake of intra party democracy, this ought to be respected at all cost. Where are they getting the authority to extend the period?”

Political commentator Makhumbo Munthali described the NEC move as undemocratic, adding that it dents Chakwera’s image.

He said: “The decision is not just undemocratic, but a threat to its own constitutional stability. It does reflect the situation that individual, vested political interests reign supreme about the party constitution.

“At the same time, it does reflect negatively on Chakwera who has all along portrayed himself as someone who believes in rule of law and constitutionalism. If he is not able to uphold these values at party level, should Malawians really respect him to do so at national level.”