Clergy wants DPP MPs to respect Speaker on LoP unrest

Evangelical clerics are pressing opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators to respect the Speaker’s authority concerning the Leader of Opposition situation until the matter is conclusively resolved in court.

Chaos erupted in the chamber following Speaker Catherine Gotani Hara announcement that Kondwani Nankhumwa would continue as opposition leader in respect to a court injunction to that effect.

On Monday, Gotani Hara expelled 25 DPP MPs for protesting against Nankhumwa responding to President Chakwera’s State of the Nation Address instead of party appointee, Mary Navicha.

Meanwhile, all DPP legislators have since Tuesday resorted to boycott parliamentary proceedings in solidarity with the ejected MPs.

Reacting to the development, Evangelical Association of Malawi (EAM) general secretary Francis Mkandawire is asking the courts to give the matter the urgency that it deserves so that sanity is restored in Parliament.

“It is sad that not all parliamentarians are participating in the deliberations with the boycott currently staged by DPP lawmakers. We want this issue to be sorted out once and for all as Malawians are going through tough times. There are issues which needs to be deliberated by all parliamentarians,” said Mkandawire.

Yesterday, the High Court in Lilongwe reserved its ruling on a preliminary application that Nankhumwa made asking the court not to hear an application by the DPP, seeking to vacate an injunction that is protecting Nankhumwa as leader of opposition.

His lawyers Wapona Kita and Gift Katundu argued that the court already heard DPP when it sustained the injunction in 2022.

He said: “DPP should take the matter to Supreme court as the High Court already handled the issue of vacating the injunction.”

DPP director of legal affairs Charles Mhango has objected to the preliminary application by Nankhumwa arguing that the: “The High Court can hear the matter of vacating the injunction upon change of circumstances as when the injunction was being obtained. Nankhumwa was a member of the DPP, but now, he is no longer one.”