BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)—What started as rumour that President Peter Mutharika is planning to thwart the Fresh Presidentil Election (FPE) through parliament has become a reality following the president’s State of the Nation Address (Sona), in which he has asked the lawmakers to correct the errors made by the Judiciary, arguing parliament is more supreme above the courts.
In his recorded speech titled Balancing development and politics: Renewing our love for our country, Mutharika has strongly accused the Malawi Courts for nullifying the election which he believes was free, fair and credible.
“Let us admit we have a dilemma between going to an election too soon or preventing the spreading of Coronavirus. As a nation, we need to make a collective decision. This parliament must make its voice heard before the people.
“And let us also admit that we sometimes do what is not right because the court has said so. But let us remember that parliament is more supreme above the courts. We are elected members who represent the people and we have the authority to make laws for the Judiciary to interpret,” Mutharika said.
He further argues that the court has set a precedence by which every election will be challenged by the opposing side because there is no election which is free from irregularities worldwide.
“With the decision which the Court has made on the issue of irregularities, we will never, never have a valid and credible Election in this country because there will always be some irregularities in any Election. We have set a precedence by which the next Election will be even more disputable,” he said
He said Malawi has set precedence when an election of a Members of Parliament can be nullified just because a well-meaning officer tried to correct a mistake using tippex.
“I was voted by the people as President exactly through the same process that voted for every Member of Parliament and ward councilors…
“From today, anyone can now rush to Court and demand nullification of an Election because an officer corrected an error even if that correction does not affect the result of the Election. Is that the Malawi we want?” he wondered.
He said the essence of an Election is that people must go into office by the will of the people.
He added that in every modern democracy, the will of the people is in the numbers that vote for us. He observed that the Court failed to show or prove that irregularities affected the result of the Election.
“In as far as the result of an Election is intact, then the will of the people prevails. We cannot, and we should never, nullify an Election if any irregularities do not affect the results of the Election. Nullifying an Election is nullifying the will of the people,” he said.
He therefore urged Parliament “to set right what is not right”, apparently through passing relevant legislation.
“I raise these matters before this House because we represent the people. Some of the politicians destroying this country are not even represented in this House. I raise these matters because I have one plea to parliament. For the sake of developing our country, for the sake of the people, let us use our authority to set right what is not right,” he said.