Malawi Government says Vice President Saulos Chilima is still part of cabinet and it has not broken any law by excluding the UTM leader from a cabinet list released on Wednesday.
Minister of Information and Communications Technology Henry Mussa said this in a statement on Friday.
The Malawi Law Society (MLS) described Chilima’s exclusion as illegal saying Mutharika has flouted Section 92 of the Malawi Constitution which stipulates that the country shall have a “Cabinet consisting of the President, the First Vice President, the Second Vice-President and such Ministers and Deputy Ministers as may, from time to time, be appointed by the President”.
But Mussa in the statement – in which he did not name Chilima and only called him an officer – said the cabinet list is a reflection of what is happening on the ground as Chilima is not working with the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.
“The general public is informed that the publication is a statement of political and not of legal realities. It is not an indication of anything else beyond this,” said Mussa in the statement.
Chilima dumped the DPP in June to form UTM and over the past months he has been facing calls to resign.
His critics say Chilima is drawing a salary without working and condemn him for criticizing the Mutharika administration which he is part of.
Chilima, hower, instists he will not resign saying he has a contract with Malawians that ends next year.
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