By Cathy Maulidi:
Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) has written Speaker Catherine Gotani Hara requesting her office to declare the seat of Nkhotakota South East Member of Parliament (MP) Ibrahim Sadala vacant.
In the just-ended meeting of Parliament, the Speaker announced that Sadala had left UDF and requested to be allocated a seat on independent benches.
In a letter that we have seen, the party wants the Speaker to declare Sadala’s seat vacant and requests a by-election for a new MP to be called.
Quoting a number of court judgements and the Constitution, UDF secretary general Kandi Padambo says it the letter that Sadala has crossed the floor and that he cannot continue being an MP.
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“Right Honourable Speaker, it is needless to say that the position of the law is that Mr lbrahim Sadala, who was elected as [an MP] for Nkhotakota South East under the sponsorship of [UDF], and announced that he has ceased to be a member of the party opting to become an independent MP, unequivocally crossed the floor.
“It is our sincere belief that for the integrity of Your Honour’s high and noble office, which should not only endeavour to consistently uphold the rule of law but be seen by all Malawians to be always doing so, and the integrity of our hard-won multiparty democracy, you will dutifully declare vacant his parliamentary seat,” the letter reads.
Section 65 of the Constitution states that the Speaker shall declare vacant the seat of any MP who voluntarily ceases to be a member of his party or joins another political party represented in the National Assembly.
Sadala refused to comment on UDF’s letter.
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However, cases of MPs “crossing the floor” have been there in the past but speakers have refused to declare their seats vacant.
This is despite that previous attempts to challenge the validity of Section 65 have been unsuccessful up to the Supreme Court of Appeal.
