The Parliamentary Business Committee is expected to meet today, amid confusion on who is the real Leader of the Opposition in the august House.
Parliament spokesperson Ian Mwenye told The Daily Times that Parliament will follow the court’s order.
The order stopped the appointment of George Chaponda as Leader of Opposition in 2022.
“We are following the court order,” Mwenye said without confirming that Parliament has settled for Kondwani Nankhumwa as Leader of Opposition.
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But sources at Parliament Building told us that at today’s Business Committee meeting, Nankhumwa will be recognised as Leader of Opposition.
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“Nankhumwa is coming to the meeting because of that order. The Attorney General [Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda] advised the Speaker of Parliament to follow the court order or else be in contempt of court.
“So, according to that court order, Chaponda is not welcome to the Business Committee meeting,” the source said.
The said injunction was obtained in 2022 by 22 DPP members of Parliament (MPs), including Werani Chilenga, Mark Botomani and Nicholas Dausi— who challenged Chaponda’s appointment as Leader of Opposition then.
They said they were denied the right to vote for Leader of Opposition as they were deliberately not invited to a meeting that was held in Mangochi District, where the Leader of Opposition was being voted for by DPP officials.
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Nankhumwa’s lawyer Wapona Kita told The Daily Times Tuesday that Nankhumwa would continue to serve as Leader of Opposition unless the injunction is varied.
“He is going to the meeting as Leader of Opposition. He will attend the meeting,” Kita said.
Information The Daily Times sourced Tuesday indicated that lawyers representing DPP tried to have the order varied but failed.
Addressing journalists on the issue in Lilongwe, Alliance for Democracy leader in Parliament Yeremiah Chihana said the Judiciary has put Parliament under siege and now the situation has degenerated into a crisis.
According to Chihana, with Parliament scheduled to start meeting on Friday, it is unlikely that the House will reconvene if the Leader of Opposition debacle is not addressed by the court.
“We, as Alliance for Democracy, are concerned with these challenges. I understand the DPP lawyers went to see the judge handling the matter but the judge is not in the country. This has left Parliament in a very difficult situation,” Chihana said.
The ruling, made on August 8 2022 by Judge Kenyatta Nyirenda on the sought injunction, declared the injunction as a continuing injunction.
“In view of the foregoing and by reason thereof, the justice of the case weighs heavily in favour of granting the order of interlocutory injunction being sought by the 23rd claimant. Accordingly, the 3rd application is granted and its validity will last until the determination of the main action herein or a further order by the court,” the ruling reads.
As Nankhumwa is Wednesday set to go to Parliament for the Business Committee meeting, drama is expected to unfold as The Daily Times is well informed that Parliament did not withdraw the invite to the meeting that it made to Chaponda earlier.
DPP did not comment on the matter as phones went unanswered.
But, last week, DPP spokesperson Shadric Namalomba threatened that Parliament would be ungovernable if the Speaker of Parliament Catherine Gotani Hara recognises Nankhumwa as Leader of Opposition.
“We removed him from the party and from the position of Leader of Opposition. So, if they are planning to keep him as leader, amupezere kokhala osati ku chipani kwathu [they should find a place for him],” he said.
In a twist of events, Nankhumwa has moved the court, where he is seeking an injunction to stop his expulsion from the party.
Confirming the development, his lawyer Kita said Nankhumwa is challenging the decision by the party to expel him, describing it as unlawful.
“Our argument is very simple. Article 9(5b) of the DPP constitution, which they used to expel him, says that the Central Committee can only proceed to expel a member after it has conducted an arbitration between the opposing parties and, in this case, there was no arbitration at all.
“Yes the Disciplinary Committee may have recommended or referred the issue to the Central Committee but the Central Committee had an obligation, under that section, to go for arbitration before making a decision to expel him. So, we are saying they breached [provisions of] the constitution by not going under that process on what was referred to the Central Committee by the Disciplinary Committee and the expulsion was unlawful,” Kita said.
High Court Judge William Msiska is expected to hear the matter on February 12 2024.
In another development, Parliament sources told us, as we went to bed, that Nankhumwa had withdrawn the Presidential Age Limit Motion.
