A political analyst has trashed Brown Mpinganjira’s proposal that the Malawi constitution should be amended to allow the president to fire his vice president.
In an exclusive interview with Malawi24, the analyst Wonderful Mkhutche said Mpinganjira’s idea cannot apply in democratic Malawi and he accused the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) politician of trying to please his party leader President Peter Mutharika.
“As a country, we need to be moving forward with our democracy. Having one man leading the country means that we are concentrating too much power on him and that is not in line with democratic values. If this suggestion can be taken, it means we will have taken ourselves two decades back,” said Mkhutche.
The analyst added that the enmity between Malawi’s four democratic era presidents and their vice presidents is an opportunity to find out how to make the relationship between the two leaders work.
According to Mkhutche, Mpinganjira is going for the easy path when there is a hard one of making sure the President and his Vice have a cordial relationship.
“There are more advantages of having a Vice President compared to the single disadvantage being cited.
“Among others, the Vice Presidency makes it possible that power is not concentrated in one man. The office is also a good succession plan in case the President dies or is incapacitated. The fact that the relationship between the President and his Vice has not been cordial in democratic Malawi does not mean that we need to remove the Vice President’s office,” he said.
Mkhutche also expressed doubt if Mpinganjira believes in the suggestion he made saying the politician possibly made the proposal because he is a member of the DPP.
“If the same Mpinganjira can happen to be in another camp where the Vice Presidency will matter, he will take a different stand,” Mkhutche told Malawi24.
President Peter Mutharika and his Vice President Saulos Chilima are not in good terms after Chilima dumped the ruling Democratic Progressive Party and formed his United Transformation Movement.
when i was in standard five in 1994 i was hearing the name Brown Mpinganjira. i went to secondary school, university and now am employed still hearing the same name. why not just retiring Mr BJ. we still will respect you if you humbly quit politics, than the way you conduct yourself.
Mpinganjira plz be advised that Malawi is not Banana Republic . You are an old fashioned disciplinarian . To he’ll with your stupid and wicked idea that will put Malawi in a dictatorship state . Why do you want to please one person not respecting democracy . If you are tired of politics you mush quit before derailing the clear constitution .
Greedy BJ you mad you must give suggestions that will benefit Malawi as a whole not you and weaked DPP