Malawi's opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) has demanded answers over President Peter Mutharika's prolonged stay abroad, two weeks after he travelled to South Africa, the BBC reported. This is the president's fifth visit to South Africa this year, according to the BBC.
Source: BBC News via World Right Now
At a news conference in Lilongwe on Thursday, MCP publicist Jessie Kabwila and senior official Moses Kunkuyu questioned whether the head of state could be unwell and whether the trip was private or for medical attention, and said the government should inform Malawians about his status, The Maravi Post reported.
Source: The Maravi Post
Kunkuyu acknowledged that illness could affect anyone, including the president, and said the situation would be understandable if Mutharika were unwell, while insisting the public deserved clear information rather than speculation, The Maravi Post reported. He also alleged that officials remaining in government were engaging in theft during the president's absence — an MCP allegation that has not been independently established.
UTM Party leader Dalitso Kabambe has separately challenged the government to explain who is running the country while the president remains abroad, arguing that although the trip may be private, governing Malawi is a public responsibility, The Maravi Post reported.
On Friday, the Nation Advocacy Platform (NAP) rebuked the MCP's call for Vice-President Jane Ansah to address the nation, with chairperson Benedicto Kondowe calling it unnecessary and potentially misleading, The Maravi Post reported. Kondowe said a president's private travel does not create a leadership vacuum or automatically transfer presidential powers, citing sections 79 and 92(3) of Malawi's Constitution on the vice-president's role during a temporary absence.
Source: The Maravi Post
The debate has turned on a constitutional point as much as a political one: Malawi's Constitution provides for presidential powers to be exercised personally or through delegated officials, and government business continues through the Cabinet and public institutions while the president travels — a position the NAP set out in rejecting claims of a vacuum.
President Mutharika travelled to South Africa about two weeks ago, his fifth visit there this year (BBC). The MCP wants the government to say whether the trip is private or medical. The NAP says the Constitution covers a temporary absence and there is no leadership vacuum.