Post Malawi Elections 2009 : Week in review

As the dust is refusing to settle from the May 19 general elections aftermath, the week gone by had a story of the Members of Parliament taking oath of office and allegiance attracting most attention.
Of course taking oath was something anticipated but it was yet to be seen how Parliament would handle constituencies whose results are being contested in the courts following a court injunction which some failed aspirants applied to the High Court.
The injunction was aimed at restraining winning candidates from taking oath of office.
But High Court Judge Joseph Manyungwa rebuffed the application saying granting an interlocutory injunction restraining the winning candidates from taking oath of office would deprive the rights of constituents to be represented in the National Assembly.
The judge argued that the cases would go expedited hearing saying such cases have an abridged time as stipulated in the practice direction 1 of 2009.
The ruling left people who are contesting the results like Chief political advisor to the president Hetherwick Ntaba who contested for Lilongwe South East on DPP ticket and lost to MCP'S Willard Gwengwe and former speaker of Parliament Louis Chimango frustrated.
The Court's verdict allowed the winning MPs to take oath between Monday and Tuesday with only two constituencies Zomba Malosa and Blantyre City Centre left out.
The two constituencies will hold by elections because the vice president Joyce Banda won the Zomba Malosa seat. Banda surrendered her seat in order to serve as the vice president while for Blantyre City Centre the parliamentary elections were postponed on May 19 to July due to the death of one of the aspiring candidates. DPP has since said it will hold primary elections for the Zomba Malosa by elections.
During the two days the MPs were taking oath, the most noticeable thing was how DPP supporters booed MCP president John Tembo who was among the MPs who took oath.
Tembo was not moved with the insults leveled at him and made it clear that by taking oath of office does not mean he has conceded defeat. He has said he will only concede defeat if only the courts rule that the elections were not rigged. But government has since asked the High Court in Lilongwe to dismiss John Tembo's case.
At the end of the swearing ceremony of new MPs, DPP netted 29 out of 32 independent MPs to make it 143 MPs on the government side.
Reports indicated that only two independents sat on the opposition side with the rest associating themselves with government side.

Among independent MPs who have joined DPP are former vice president Cassim Chilumpha. Another prominent figure that is showing allegiance to DPP is Malavi People's Party (MPP) president Uladi Mussa who decided to sit on the government side after taking oath.
Chilumpha has since opted for a full government retirement package which means the Nkhota Kota South parliamentarians would forgo the monthly package from Parliament.
The constitution provides that a retired head of state or vice president who chooses to back to politics can either have a retired package forfeited if the person opts for a monthly salary from the consolidated fund or vice versa.
The development exacerbated fears from some quarters of a looming dictatorship which DPP dismissed saying DPP MPs were people of high integrity who would preserve the dignity and discipline of the House by supporting Mutharika and government development agenda.
As word of advice, Vice President Joyce Banda warned new MPs that noise makers in the last National Assembly were left out by voters in the May 19.
Chief Justice Lovemore Munlo who conducted the swearing in ceremony also asked the MPs to protect the public in running their affairs.
In another development MCP forced its new elected MPs to sign for a letter purportedly expressing allegiance to John Tembo to be the next leader of opposition. MCP woes continued with more MCP officials joining former party's spokes person Ishmael Chafukira to call for new blood.