Malawi Congress Party (MCP) has been ordered to hold convention within 90 days by the Lilongwe High Court.
The development follows an application some disgruntled members in the party who are not happy with the Party’s President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera.
The disgruntled members are accusing Dr. Chakwera of practicing nepotism and not following the Party constitution in appointing people in various positions.
In his ruling the presiding Judge Chifundo Mwale, said failure to convene such meeting in the stipulated time will automatically render the impugned decisions of the notice of 27th August 2015 void and without effect as breaching the MCP constitution.
“The Secretary General of the MCP must comply with petition presented to him by the plaintiffs in terms of Article 40 of the party constitution and convene an emergence convention within 90 days to ratify the contested decisions reflected in the notice of 27th August 2015,” reads in part the court ruling.
According to the court documents, on 27th August 2015, the Secretary General of the MCP, Gustav Kaliwo, issued a Press Statement outlining an extensive reshuffle and reconstituting of the National Executive Committee of the MCP.
On his part, lawyer for the disgruntled MCP members, Wesley Namasala said his clients were not happy with the way people were being fired within the party.
“The genesis of this matter is that there have been some changes that have been made by the MCP affecting positions that were elected at the convention. The Malawi Congress Party constitution stipulates that a change in those positions can only be made by the convention. It is only the convention that can rectify the changes or make amendments as regards to that position,” said Namasala.
The MCP chairpersons are from 27 out the 41 districts recognised under the MCP. Namasala said the chairpersons were of the view that the purported measures represented a breach of several of the MCP constitution.
MCP spokesperson Jessie Kabwila expressed ignorance of the order when contacted for comments.
