Nankhumwa, Jeffrey dealt big blow

The High Court of Malawi has thrown out a bid by three former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) National Governing Council (NGC) members to put aside implementation of an intra-party reshuffle that affected them.

In the reshuffle, DPP president Peter Mutharika stripped Mulanje Central legislator Kondwani Nakhumwa of the role of vice-president (South) and made him his adviser alongside former director of women Cecilia Chazama.

Mutharika also moved secretary general Grezelder Jeffrey to the role of vice-president (Central Region).

Mulanje South West legislator George Chaponda replaced Nankhumwa while Thyolo Thava parliamentarian Mary Navicha fitted into Chazama’s role and Clement Mwale is the new secretary general.

Dissatisfied with the changes, the trio sought an interim injunction to stop implementation of the changes, but High Court of Malawi Judge Howard Pemba on Thursday ruled that the applicants failed to demonstrate that they have an arguable and good claim against the party.

The judge further said the three were just moved from their positions to new roles within the party.

Said Pemba: “I have gone through Article 10[8] of the third defendant’s [DPP] constitution and the clear wording of it is that the president has powers to assign a member of national governing council to any public or political office.

“If the framers of the third defendant’s constitution wanted Article 10 [8] to be subjected to any other condition such as that the member should be heard before being assigned to another position or that reasons should be given for the assignment; or that the article should not be applicable to an elected position; and that it should only apply where the party is in government, the same would have been specifically included in the constitution.”

The judge added that there was no demonstration of a serious question to be tried as there was no political right of claimants violated by Mutharika’s decisions of assigning them to different positions.

“I am of the strong view that the balance of justice and convenience militates against the grant of the order of the interlocutory injunction sought by the claimants. The claimants’ application is accordingly dismissed with costs,” the court ruled.

Court records show that the three argued that Mutharika did not have powers to remove them from their elected positions nor were they heard before that decision was made.

They also claimed that Mutharika does not have powers to appoint anyone into the NGC, let alone the secretary general of the party, further calling for nullification of the December 13 NGC meeting which was called by Jeffrey’s replacement.

But the defendants argued that Mutharika had constitutional powers to assign responsibilities within the NGC and that this was not the first time for such a decision to be made.

Reacting to the development, former Attorney General Charles Mhango, lawyer for Mutharika, Mwale and DPP as first, second and third defendants respectively, said the ruling now allows Mutharika to work with people that trust and respect his decisions.

He said: “This means that the power given to the president by the constitution to assign members of the NGC with the NGC is intact. This will minimise conflict with the party in terms of positions and gives the president room to work with people who respect his decisions.”

But lawyer for Nankhumwa, Peter Minjale said they are planning to appeal because the judge has erred in both law and facts.

“I haven’t gotten a response from my clients, but a knee-jerk response would be that the judge made errors of both the law and facts. There are some issues which the judge overlooked,” he said.

Cracks in the former governing DPP came to light after Jeffrey in August 2020 told The Nation that Mutharika, had done his part and that the party needed a new person to lead it into the future, calling for an early convention.