…….……Lobbies for Courts Intervention
Former Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Kamudoni Nyasulu has asked Malawians to take President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera to task for breaching the constitution by coming up with an ‘illegal’ Social Economic Recovery Plan(SERP) which lacks legal standing.
Last week, President Chakwera announced over half billion kwacha a social-economic recovery plan (SERP) for Malawi for the period between 2021 and 2023, aimed at stimulating, strategic parts of the economy with various interventions.
But reacting to the announcement recently veteran lawyer Nyasulu said: “I have just finished perusal of the Malawi SERP 2021-2023. I will use civil, albeit candid, language.
SERP violates the Constitutional construct, more so because it perpetuates the evasion of the Constitutional construct by the Presidential Delivery Unit (PDU) and the MW2063 Implementation Plan (MIP) 1 in clear contradiction to the spirit of the MW2063 on setting and implementing ‘State’ (Legislature, Executive and Judiciary) priorities,”
The veteran legal practitioner Nyasulu argues that SERP reduces the Legislature, the Judiciary and their core responsibilities in ‘Economic and Democratic Governance’ sometimes referred to as ‘Rule of Law’ to a footnote.
“The spirit and process for setting priorities was adopted by Government in 2008 after the failures of the Poverty Reduction Strategies and MGDS I.
“SERP reduces the Legislature, the Judiciary and their core responsibilities in ‘Economic and Democratic Governance’ sometimes referred to as ‘Rule of Law’ to a footnote.
Footnote because rule of law, frauds and corruption is only tangentially referred to, without reference to Judiciary and Legislature, in 148 words at page 24 and 132 words at page 36 in a 76-page document.”
Nyasulu further says the implementation of MIP1 and SERP, at a minimum, would be a violation of the Constitution.
He wonders to two organs of State be a footnote in a national policy and strategy, drawn up by a third organ, the Executive, that appropriates the national development agenda and a minimum of K580 billion to the Executive without consulting a minimum of 18 mandates conferred by the Constitution and the law to a minimum 13 Competent Authorities and a minimum 23 Supervisory (Implementing) Authorities in Economic and Democratic Governance or ‘Rule of Law’ that includes ‘Accountability Institutions’.
“If any of these Competent and Supervisory Authorities were consulted, the SERP does not reflect their input. This at a time when social media is awash with the arrest of Sattar, Batatawala, several former Ministers and a Reserve Bank Governor that highlight the scourge of public finance hemorrhage and the importance of the Rule of Law sector with a reminder from the Army Commander that Rule of Law in the Defence Force, despite recognition of CIMIC relationships, is not under the Competent and Supervisory authority of the Executive; and told the Executive to keep off interfering with Malawi Defence Force.
“This is one time that the citizens need to move the Courts under section 14 to the Constitution to determine the validity of decisions of the executive (the Presidency, NPC, OPC, MEP &D) to set priorities and intend to implement policy or strategy that excludes consultation with the Judiciary and the Legislature in most probable contravention of sections 4, 7, 8, 9, 12(f) and 13(o) of the Constitution applied to sections 3, 4 and 184 of the Public Finance Management Act with the decision in the Mutharika and Muhara judgement,” said Nyasulu who is rewarded as the best top government prosecutor since the dawn of democracy in Malawi.
He has also taken a swipe at President Chakwera for failing to reduce his powers as promised during campaign time.
“The Presidency, most likely recruited by public officers, is amassing to itself power and clout it had pledged to reduce,” he fumes.
Many a time several individuals/organisations have pointed out the love and tendency of dictatorial traits Pastor Chakwera has displayed since he ascended to the presidential seat. All along he has lived in denial that Malawi is not a personal estate whereby he and his son in-law will bulldoze their ill-crafted ideologies into law for us Malawians to accept and follow. On a number of occasions he has fallen short of the expected delivery by an Executive, which has led the country into very precarious and unthinkable situations.
Surely the president has a variety of expertise to choose from who could assist him to run the country smoothly within the country. But instead he decided to pick trash from Nsundwe who are not qualified but just because they come from his area. He told the nation that he was going to clear the rubble left by his predecessor, but instead of doing that he has now even created more rubble – some even exudes bad smell.
That is my learned Counsel who doesn’t beat about the bush when it comes to pronouncing truths. Kamudoni Nyasulu has basically offered free legal advice to this substandard administration to try and save the nation. Some of the blunders being made are very avoidable but when insincerity and bad faith takes centre stage the result is what we are seeing. For Pastor Chakwera’s information, Malawi comprises all tribes, regions and gender. Malawi is not only Nsundwe or Lilongwe, Dowa and Ntchisi. Due to the myopic reasoning the leadership has displayed the country has completely lost its respect, trust and pride. Accept the advice as given by the Lord Prosecutor, one and only Kamudoni Nyasulu or leave it to perish and get ousted unceremoniously from that luxurious seat Malawians across the country entrusted you with. You don’t play with an economy which was built over years and you expect to revive it by introducing archaic, dead rules whereby you instruct your police to unfairly punish Malawians on frivolous, unfounded and crafted road traffic offences which are non-existent just to make K25 million a day, to make good of money your government willy-nilly spent on unsubstantiated global tours and trips within the country; all in the name of amassing allowances. What a joke of an administration?