Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) senior members Kondwani Nankhumwa, Grezelder Jeffrey and Cecilia Chazama have appealed at the Supreme Court against the High Court’s ruling on their re-assignments, claiming that party president Peter Mutharika has no power to remove them from their original positions.
Last month, High Court judge Howard Pemba threw out the trio’s application saying their political rights were not violated by Mutharika’s decisions.
Mutharika appointed Kondwani Nankhumwa as presidential advisor after removing him from his position as vice president-south. The DPP leader also removed Cecilia Chazama from her position as director of women and appointed her as presidential advisor while the party’s secretary general Grezelder Jeffrey was appointed as vice president-center.
In their appeal, the trio argued that Mutharika has no power to remove them from their original positions because they were elected to the positions during the party’s convention in 2018.
When re-assigning the three, Mutharika said he used Article 10[8] of the DPP constitution which says the president has powers to assign a member of national governing council to any public or political office.
Meanwhile, the appeal hearing is expected to start today in court.
