Malawi: MCP Must Accept Court's Ruling and Use It to Correct Its Institutional Flaws

6 August 2024
Nyasa Times (Leeds)
By Eammanuel Kapito

I had a fear that, one day, MCP will bar some 'newcomers', and consequently, the High Court will rule against the decision.

Well, so it has played out today: as MCP gurus were busy announcing that over 20 contestants have been barred, one of them being the vocal Vitumbiko Mumba, High Court judge Howard Pemba was also busy reading a 21-page ruling that, at its conclusion, nullified the resolution the party made to bar newcomers from contesting at its weekend's convention.

So what's next for MCP?

If the party is still aggrieved, it can rush, before 8th August, to the Supreme Court and get a stay order that can stop the execution of Pemba's judgement. But, in the same manner, Edwin Banda, the one who moved the court, can also seek redress from Supreme Court--either to stop the convention of challenge the stay order that MCP may have taken.

In the end, the entire thing will turn chaotic. As an organization, MCP will now be run by the courts, not its system. This situation will, again, expose the party's leadership incapacity to manage its internal affairs.

If they can't manage their own party, people will ask, should we really trust them, again, with the entire nation to manage?

I shudder to imagine such an MCP. I still believe as an oldest political institution, MCP is managed by level-headed individuals who thinks beyond belly politics.

As such, we strongly believe that, at this point, the party must return to its residual institutional systems to manage how it moves forward and have reputable convention this weekend.

Courts work on evidence, not political perceptions. The evidence that tumbled the party in the case does reveal that, to a greater extent, the party has inherent registration and operations defects that needs to be sorted out. These are defects that the party need to iron out, not courts. But not today, or tomorrow because the convention is night. That sounds targeting. Laws are made to strengthen systems, not punitive measures against certain individuals.

As such, where MCP stands now, it is prudent and, again, a show of political maturity and candor to accept the High Court ruling, allow everyone to contest and hold a free and fair elective convention.

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