By Cathy Maulidi:
The Republican Constitution stipulates that a sitting President has seven days within which to appoint a Vice President should that office fall vacant.
However, The Daily Times has learned that the supreme law of the land is silent on which circles to pick a Vice President from.
It only stipulates that the office may become vacant due to death or incapacitation, among other grounds.
When we asked the Malawi Law Society for a comment on this constitutional obligation, its president Patrick Mpaka explained that the Constitution does not prescribe the circles from which to appoint the replacement of a Vice President.
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He added that the computation of time excludes Sundays and public holidays.
“Under Section 84 of the Constitution, the President has seven days from the passing of the Vice President to appoint a person to fill the vacancy in the Vice President’s office for the unexpired period of his term, since there is still more than 12 months before the expiry of the term,” Mpaka said.
He added that, given that President Lazarus Chakwera and his late vice were sworn in, in terms of Section 83, on June 28 2020, the constitutional obligation to appoint a replacement Vice President would only not have arisen had this sad turn of events occurred after 28 June 2024.
“As it is, the section 84 constitutional obligation has arisen following the unfortunate passing of the Right Honourable Vice President [Saulos] Chilima,” Mpaka said.
