The Malawi Law Society speaks

MALAWI LAW SOCIETY
PUBLIC STATEMENT

ON THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE NAMING OF VICE PRESIDENT DR. SAULOS KLAUS CHILIMA IN THE ZUNETH SATTAR RELATED CORRUPTION SCANDAL AND PRESIDENT DR. LAZARUS MCCARTHY CHAKWERA’S DECISION TO WITHDRAW DELEGATED FUNCTIONS TO THE VICE PRESIDENT

The Malawi Law Society (“MLS”) in exercise of its statutory mandate “to protect matters of public interest touching, ancillary or incidental to law” and in recognition of the cross- cutting constitutional responsibility of all to “observe and uphold the Constitution and the rule of law “ makes the present public statement to independently guide the public and the public officials on the implications of the naming of the Vice President Saulos Klaus Chilima in the Zuneth Sattar-related corruption scandal and the consequent decision by the State President Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera to withhold delegated functions to the Vice President.
Under section 79 of the Constitution, the functions of a Vice President are to “assist the President and exercise the powers and functions conferred by the Constitution or by any Act of Parliament and by the President”. The announcement by the President, if implemented, entails that possibly the President may not be seeking further assistance or conferring any further functions to the Vice President until the corruption allegations on the part of the Vice President are resolved. It means that the Vice President will strictly remain with those functions given by the Constitution or some other statute. For example under section 92 of the Constitution cabinet is composed of the President, the Vice President, Ministers and Deputies so that the Vice President will remain a member of the cabinet because of the Constitution. Any function ascribed by the Constitution or an Act of Parliament to the office of the Vice President is not affected by the President’s decision to stop delegating. Only those functions directly assigned by the President or which the President intended to assign to the Vice President would be affected by the decision.
Under the Constitution the Vice President is not immune from criminal prosecution. Given that sustained high level corruption has been among the major and primary setbacks undermining the realisation of the will and aspirations of the people of Malawi to progressive development as recorded in several places in the Constitution, the Anti- Corruption Bureau is therefore duty bound and should take up and conclude any criminal investigations and prosecution against the Vice President if the Bureau has evidence of such malpractice attributed to the Vice President. Without prejudice to the legal presumption of his innocence, the Vice President remains liable to criminal prosecution if the Anti-Corruption Bureau or any law enforcement agency has reason to believe in his potential guilt. The President, on the other hand remains at liberty to decide to delegate or not to delegate some functions to the Vice President. And the President’s announcement entails that the President has opted for the latter option.
It is therefore quite a complex situation which can easily create or be exploited to create a political impasse because, of necessity, there should be practical intersection of the duties of the Vice President under the Constitution, under statute and under the delegated role from the President since all those three lines of the Vice President’s functions derive from the constitutional authority of the two offices of the President and the Vice President.
The Malawi Law Society therefore recommends quick and lawful resolution of the issues that have given rise to the situation so that the country can move forward as one unit knowing the state of potential guilt or innocence of the country’s Vice President and avert the impasse that can be created by a sustained state of uncertainty. We therefore call upon all institutions and State agents and organs if and whenever it falls within their competence to play any role in dealing with the corruption allegations against the Vice President, to support the Anti-Corruption Bureau in its pursuit of any legal process that the Bureau may deem appropriate. We also call upon members of the Vice President’s political party or the general public to avoid taking actions and steps that may be perceived to seek to obstruct or impede the course of justice in the matter concerning the allegations of corruption by the Vice President seeing that under sections 13 and 30 of the Constitution, “all persons and peoples of Malawi” have the right to development and to enjoyment of economic progress and that the State, in this case led by the Anti- Corruption Bureau, has a duty to take measures aimed at eradicating social injustices such as corruption. Let the due legal process triggered by the Anti-Corruption Bureau’s reported findings against the Vice President and indeed against any public official run its course efficiently and without interference.
The Malawi Law Society reserves its full rights in so far as it is enabled by law “to protect matters of public interest touching, ancillary or incidental to law” and to assist in “upholding the Constitution and the rule of law “ in the country.

Dated this 26th day of June 2022