Impeachment ruled out

Malawians should forget about using impeachment as a solution to do away with a failed president or a failed vice president as the wording of the Constitution is so vague that it renders the process almost unattainable, Constitutional Law expert Edge Kanyongolo has said.

Kanyongolo, a law lecturer with the University of Malawi, made this observation on Thursday at Public Affairs Committee (Pac) conference in Blantyre when making a presentation on opportunities and challenges in the Constitution.

“Much as Section 86(2a) of the Constitution provides for impeachment of the President or Vice President on the grounds of “serious violation of the Constitution” or “serious breach”, it never specifies what constitutes such violations or breaches,” Kanyongolo said.

He contrasted the country’s Constitution with those of other countries, like the United States of America, in which it is clearly spelt out that such violations and breaches could be “treason, bribery or high crimes of misdemeanour”.

Kanyongolo further faulted the Constitution for lacking enforcement mechanism in case there is deliberate ploy to disregard the laws.

He said much as the Constitution empowers Parliament to summon the president to respond to questions regarding issues of governance, among others, it does not state what should happen in case the president decides to ignore such summons.

Kanyongolo, therefore, advised participants at the conference that the Constitution should not be viewed as a key to addressing all the problems rocking the country due to its limitations.

He said political problems should be solved using political solutions while economic problems should be solved using economic solutions instead expecting the laws to help.

This left many excited participants seemingly lost, with others asked questions for more clarifications.