…says she is being blocked from Mutharika
…admits being bothered
…says she is in good relation with Mutharika
Second Vice President Jane Ansah has lifted the lid on what she says is a growing power struggle around President Peter Mutharika, accusing people close to the Head of State of blocking her from presidential engagements and making decisions they should not make.
Speaking on Zodiak Radio on Monday, Ansah says the problem is not necessarily with Mutharika himself, but with people she claims have positioned themselves around him and are increasingly standing between the President and his deputy.
“There are people surrounding the President,” Ansah said.
She said the signs were already visible on the day Mutharika announced her as his running mate, claiming that the President was the only person who welcomed her when she arrived at his home.
Ansah said Mutharika was visibly pleased with his choice and publicly explained why he had settled on her.
But she said the attitude of some people around him has since changed, with some allegedly taking matters into their own hands.
“I have seen that people have come to do things that they shouldn’t do, to say things that they shouldn’t say,” she said.
Ansah pointed to a series of incidents which she says demonstrate how she has been pushed away from presidential engagements.
She said she was absent when Mutharika made his first address to the nation from his home after the elections because someone allegedly told her not to bother going.
“Someone called me and said I should not go because there was not enough space. Everybody else was there,” she said.
Ansah also recalled Mutharika’s first private visit to South Africa after the elections, saying she was again told not to accompany the Headof State because it was a private trip.
She said the instructions did not come from Mutharika himself.
“When I went to the airport, it was not the President who said I shouldn’t go,” Ansah said.
The Vice President said the latest incident involved a Cabinet meeting from which she was absent after she allegedly failed to receive the Cabinet bag normally sent to members before a meeting.
Ansah said she heard that Cabinet was meeting, but could not simply turn up because the required documents had not been delivered to her.
She said she called Chief Secretary to the Government Justin Saidi to explain the situation and ask him to convey her apology to Mutharika, but he did not answer her call.
Ansah said she has attended Cabinet three times before, making the latest exclusion particularly concerning.
The Vice President admitted that the situation bothers her, but said she has chosen not to jump straight to Mutharika.
“Yes, you get bothered, but what can you do?” she said.
Instead, Ansah said she has written three letters to the Chief Secretary seeking explanations over what she considers irregular conduct.
She said none of the letters has been answered.
Ansah said she prefers to follow the chain of command before taking an issue to the President, arguing that the Chief Secretary must first be given an opportunity to explain himself.
“I like following procedures in my life. I never go to the highest. I follow procedures,” she said.
She said her approach is also guided by Section 43 of the Constitution, arguing that nobody should be condemned before being given an opportunity to explain themselves.
For Ansah, the unanswered letters have therefore become part of a bigger question: who is making decisions around the President, and on whose authority?
She said the Chief Secretary, as the head of the presidency’s administrative machinery, should explain why some of the decisions affecting her are being made.
