Parliament has said it will seek legal interpretation on the issues surrounding politician Bentley Namasasu, who until Monday was Member of Parliament for Lilongwe City South East Constituency.
The Supreme Court of Appeal on Monday upheld a 2014 ruling by the High Court Judge, Esmie Chombo, that Malawi Electoral Commission (Mec) should hold a re-run of parliamentary elections in the constituency, following a complaint by Malawi Congress Party (MCP) candidate, Ulemu Msungama.
The re-run has been ordered after Namasasu, of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), has already served as the constituency’s MP for two and half years.
In an interview Wednesday, Parliament’s Chief Public Relations Officer, Leonard Mengezi, said they are waiting for a copy of the Supreme Court judgement.
“That has never happened before. It is a complicated issue. We will wait for the judgement and seek legal interpretation. We will comment better after that,” he said.
Mengezi was responding to the question on what happens to Namasasu’s benefits, and loans, if he has any.
Namasasu said he is just hearing about the issue in the media.
“At the moment, I cannot comment. I will do so at an appropriate time,” he said.
The last time Parliament was in fix over terms of MPs was in 2009, when former Speaker, Henry Chimunthu Banda declared Machinga South East constituency seat vacant following the conviction of its MP Reverend Wilson Ndomondo, of assault and malicious damage.
Although by-elections were held in the constituency and won by United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate Donnex Mpuzeni, Ndomondo successfully appealed against his conviction.
The situation meant that the constituency technically had two MPs. But Ndomondo did not return to Parliament. He decided to fight for his benefits in court.
Ndomondo on Wednesday confirmed being paid by government his benefits, although he said it took a long time. But he later won the seat again in 2014 on People’s Party (PP) ticket.
Meanwhile, the Malawi Electoral Commission (Mec) has said it is putting in place all measures to hold a re-run of parliamentary election in Lilongwe City South East Constituency but needs to critically study the court judgement and electoral laws before conducting such an election.
“The Commission notes that this will be the first time on record that there will be a re-run of this nature in the electoral history of the country. To that extent there is need for critical study of the judgment delivered March 6, 2017 and also provisions of the existing electoral laws in order to come up with an acceptable procedure in conducting the re-run,” reads the statement released on Tuesday and signed by Acting Chief Elections Officer, Thandie Nkovole.
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