Chakwera’s lawyer Mordecai Msiska raps-up his submission

Lead lawyer for Malawi Congress Party (MCP) President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera, Mordecai Msiska has concluded his submission in the ongoing interparty hearing of the appeal case by the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) and President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika.

On Friday last week, Mutharika and MEC filed for an appeal on the constitutional court ruling nullifying the May 21 polls.

In his submission, Msiska said Mutharika has failed to demonstrate any harm to him by the ruling. He also said that the court ruling allowed Mutharika to continue to be in office until the fresh elections.

Msiska further said that MEC cannot also claim to have suffered any “harm” from the decision of the Constitution Court or claim that the processes in Parliament as excuse to stop the implementation of the Court ruling.

Coming to the issue of fresh elections, Msiska has said that MEC should not cite the issues of budget for elections as an excuse not to implement the ruling saying that matter is for the state.

He said that MEC should have been concerned in the first elections to comply with the Constitution. He says that the country can afford to raise the sum of money required to fund another election.

Msiska also concurred with Soko that MEC should not be citing the challenges Parliament could face in implementing the court orders, arguing that Parliament is another arm of government and if it has any challenges, it will approach the court to raise it’s concerns.