DPP founder Hetherwick Ntaba on Saturday rapped the Malawi Judiciary for ‘stealing an electoral victory’ from the DPP as well as hijacking the spirit of the constitution.
At a rally in Lilongwe which was addressed by DPP runningmate in the 23 June election who is also the President for UDF, Atupele Muluzi, Ntaba who is one of the framers of the constitution did not mince words in coming heavy on the judiciary.
“They did not find any evidence of rigging yet they went ahead to nullify the election, it does not make sense,” he said.
Ntaba further faulted the courts on their interpretation of majority in the Malawi constitution.
The courts in Malawi ruled that the meaning of majority in Malawi polls has to be a 50%+1 of the votes, moving from the first past the post system that Malawi has been using.
“I was there when the constitution was being formulated, we were together with APM and the meaning of majority was never 50%+1,” said Ntaba.
Ntaba further said that some opposition members and lawyers were also there although they changed song in the elections case which has dogged Malawi since May 2019.
At the same rally, fired Vice President Everton Chimulirenji took a swipe at the judiciary claiming that they have hijacked democracy.
“Nowhere in the world is one branch of government allowed to override other branches, here in Malawi that is the case,” he said.
Chimulirenji said that Malawi has defacto become a state in which the judiciary is usurping authority of other branches.
He also laughed at the reasoning of the judiciary which penalised Peter Mutharika, DPP and him for a crime they did not commit.
“Even in traditional courts, such a miscarriage of justice is not permissible. You can’t go to a village court and be exonerated of your charge yet get ordered to pay a fine,” said Chimulirenji.
The High Court in Malawi, sitting as a constitutional court, nullified the May 2019 elections on grounds that it was marred by serious irregularities. The Supreme Court upheld the decision by the lower court.
