Mutharika’s government trashes Chaponda’s suspension order: says the ruling is usurpation of executive powers

As debate continues over the suspension of Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development Dr. George Chaponda by the Mzuzu High Court over Zambia maize deal, government through Minister of Information and Communications Technology Nicholas Dausi has trashed the order, describing it as a complete usurpation of executive powers.

On Thursday, High Cout in Mzuzu granted an injunction to some civil society organiations restraining Chaponda, MP from discharging his duties as a Cabinet Minister until investigations into maize saga is completed.

In a statement issued on Thursday evening, Dausi said the order does not only constitute a fundamental error in law, but it also threatens the constitutional order on separation of powers.

“The legal effect of the said order is to suspend a Cabinet Minister from performing his constitutional functions. The power to appoint and suspend a Cabinet Minister, under the Constitution, vests in the President as stipulated in sections 92 to 96 of the Constitution of the Republic of Malawi. No person, apart from His Excellency, the State President, exercising his constitutional powers, has the power to remove or suspend a Cabinet Minister,” said Dausi.

He said government notes that the order has been granted pending an application for judicial review – the process of reviewing a decision made by a decision-maker.

“Government is further concerned that in the recent past there has been a proliferation of ex parte orders coming from the courts and the present order is one of them. While Government recognizes the fact that every citizen has a right of recourse to courts for genuine grievances, the Judiciary is urged to execute its mandate in an impartial manner and resist the temptation of making populist decisions which cannot be supported by relevant facts and the prescriptions of law.

“Government would like to remind Malawians that in response to the outcry regarding the purchase and procurement of maize from the Republic of Zambia, the President has set up a Commission of Inquiry to inquire into all issues related thereto,” added Dausi.

Meanwhile the state through Attorney General Kalekeni Kaphale has applied for the vacation of the injunction.