Consumers Association of Malawi (CAMA) has asked President Lazarus Chakwera to give concrete reasons for his decision to remove delegated powers of vice President Saulos Chilima.

On June 22, 2022, Chakwera withheld delegated powers of vice president Chilima following his alleged involvement in corruption activities initiated by UK based businessman Zuneth Sattar.

In his address, Chakwera said he reached the decision of withholding any delegated duties to Chilima because the Constitution does not provide for his “suspension or removal from it by the President, because he holds that office by the will of Malawian voters, which I respect.”

Chakwera also added that the vice president powers will be restored once he is cleared of being implicated in Sattar’s corruption activities as it is alleged in the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) report.

In a statement seen by this publication, CAMA through its Executive Director John Kapito said Chakwera lied to Malawians about his vice.

According to Kapito, Chakwera has been contradicting him with ACB statement that investigations on Chilima were concluded of which ACB has denied.

“The President removed his Vice President claiming that the investigations on corruption against him were concluded and compelling and that the wheels of justice are to roll soon which has been disowned by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) and the Anti-Corruption Bureau has over many times said the investigations are still ongoing and not conclusive enough to trigger any action.” Said Kapito.

He continued by questioning what exactly triggered Chakwera to remove the Vice President if it was not just a way of getting him removed for other ulterior motives.

“The State President simply lied about his Vice and the very same President has at many times told and assured Malawians that he will only remove or dismiss anyone only if there is compelling evidence against such a person and where is such evidence against the Vice President if the investigations against the Vice President were conclusive,” he said.

Kapito also wondered why it is taking so long to charge and convict Chilima.