Malawi’s President Chakwera fires attorney general
Chikosa Silungwe is known for advising President Lazarus Chakwera not to fire two commissioners of the Malawi Electoral Commission but to issue them with letters of appointment.
RUSTENBURG, July 22 (ANA) – The attorney general (AG) in Malawi Dr Chikosa Silungwe has been fired, local media reported on Thursday.
According to media reports, President Lazarus Chakwera fired Silungwe without giving reasons for the dismissal.
Online news outlet Malawi24 reported that in terms of Malawi’s constitution, the attorney general can only be removed from the position on the grounds of incompetence, incapacity or being compromised in the exercise of their duties to the extent that their ability to give impartial legal advice is seriously in question.
NationOnline reported that officials from both the office of the president and cabinet, as well as the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, have confirmed that the attorney general’s contract has been terminated.
He is known for advising Chakwera against firing two Malawi electoral commissioners, Jean Mathanga and Linda Kunje.
In his legal advice, he advised the government to offer letters of appointment to Mathanga and Kunje, who had been working without salaries, arguing that it was illegal to interdict public officers without pay.
The two commissioners were finally dismissed after the high court ruled that electoral commissioners appointed by former president Peter Mutharika were not duly appointed.
Judge Kenyatta Nyirenda delivered judgment after the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) filed an application complaining about the composition of the electoral commission. It said the law compelled the president to appoint three commissioners each from MCP and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) but Mutharika appointed four from DPP and only two from the MCP.
According to Malawi24, MCP cited Section 4 of the amended Electoral Commission Act of 2017 which gives parties with one-tenth of the parliamentary seats power to submit to the president a minimum of three nominees to be appointed as commissioners of the Malawi Electoral Commission.
The court nullified the appointments of the four DPP commissioners and ordered the DPP to submit three names to the president.
The DPP has filed an application in the Blantyre High Court challenging the 2020 presidential elections. The party has argued that the elections were conducted by a commission that included commissioners who were not duly appointed and should be declared nullified.
– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Yaron Blecher
