Ministers differ on who is in charge
Minister of Information and Civic Education Brown Mpinganjira and his Lands and Housing colleague Henry Phoya have contradicted on who is in charge of affairs with both Malawi President Joyce Banda and Vice-President Khumbo Kachali out of the country.
On Saturday, Phoya dismissed a presidential guard of honour at Chileka International Airport in Blantyre after the President flew out to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
In an interview on Monday, Mpinganjira, who is also the official government spokesperson, said the President could not have left the ship without a captain, hence she delegated Phoya to dismiss the guard of honour.
Said Mpinganjira: “That symbolised that Honourable Phoya is coordinating State affairs. The President has the prerogative to ask Honourable Phoya to coordinate affairs, but be mindful the President also communicates with any minister on daily basis.”
He said Phoya would only have that responsibility for two or three days because the Vice-President, currently in Sri Lanka for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm), is expected in the country this week.
But Phoya, in a separate interview, played down the whole thing, saying he only performed a necessary formality.
He said: “Nothing should be read into it. On Saturday, I merely performed what I would call a necessary formality. In this age of fast and sophisticated modes of communication, the President always remains in charge of the country.”
Phoya, after the President took off, was escorted to his car by side by the Inspector General (IG) of Police Lot Dzonzi and Army Commander General Henry Odillo.
Phoya, who is also Leader of the House in Parliament, was the last person to greet the President before she boarded the plane.
A law professor at the University of Malawi’s Chancellor College, Edge Kanyongolo, said in an interview on Monday there is nothing unconstitutional for both the President and the Vice-President to be outside the country.
During the regime of former president the late Bingu wa Mutharika, when there was bad blood between him and the then first-term vice-president Cassim Chilumpha and Banda in the second-term, he used to delegate some Cabinet ministers and Speaker of the National Assembly Henry Chimunthu Banda to dismiss the presidential guard of honour.
When critics asked who was in control when Mutharika travelled, government officials used to say the president was in control using modern telecommunication technology.
