Malawi lawmakers return to House after mourning first lady

APA-Blantyre (Malawi) Malawi’s lawmakers return to parliament on Friday in Lilongwe, a month after joining the rest of the nation in mourning the death of first lady Ethel Mutharika who died on 28 May in the capital of cancer. Deliberations were immediately postponed following her death, and the government declared a month long mourning period, which culminated in Mutharika’s burial on 9 June in the southern district of Thyolo. The lawmakers return to a divided House, following the Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal’s ruling two weeks ago that President Bingu wa Mutharika’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)’s MPs were defectors, and therefore should return to the parties that sponsored them into parliament during elections of 2004.


Most of the 70 MPs in question, including President Mutharika himself, were elected under the banner of the former ruling United Democratic Front of former leader Bakili Muluzi.

But after President Mutharika ditched the UDF over what he called policy differences, he took along the MPs, some of who are ministers in his cabinet, to form the DPP.

The move was met by a two-year bitter court battle the UDF and other opposition parties waged against the DPP.

The conduct of poaching lawmakers to join the DPP is known as “crossing the floor,” and is unlawful in the country’s constitution under Section 65 of the document.

The Supreme Court, in a landmark decision, ruled that the MPs who had crossed the floor had done so illegally and their seats must be declared vacant.

The expectation on Friday was to see Speaker of Parliament Louis Chimango implement this ruling by declaring at least 70 seats of DPP MPs vacant, a move that would have left the DPP in the 193-member House virtually with a handful of MPs.

But 24 hours before the parliament met, UDF MP Yunus Mussa obtained a court injunction restraining Chimango from carrying out the decision.

No doubt, the injunction is a welcome relief for the Speaker, who will not have the pressure from the opposition to kick out the wayward MPs in the DPP camp from the House – at least for now.