In
the era before May, 1994, bar the Cabinet crisis of September, 1964, there has
been one other prominent resignation of a senior public officer. In April,
1993, the then Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Friday Makuta, SC
resigned from his Cabinet post after being accused of “sitting idle” – sitting phwii – by a MCP functionary amidst
taunts from pro-democracy activists. In the post-May, 1994 era, there has also
been one prominent resignation of a senior public officer. In August, 2000, the
then Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Joe Manduwa, resigned from his Cabinet
post after being charged with the offence of murder.
Since
August, 2000, resignation has been an elusive concept in Malawi’s public
service. This has been particularly the case in public offices that are
political in nature. All Presidents we have had in office since May, 1994, at
one point or the other have been asked to resign. And they did not. Cabinet
Ministers have been asked to resign. And they have not. Indeed, at the moment,
we are in the middle of calls for the resignation of the incumbent Minister of
Agriculture, George Chaponda, following investigations into the purchase of
maize by ADMARC Limited from Zambia.
The
cavalier attitude that any call for the resignation from office of a public
officer – particularly political offices such as that of a Cabinet Minister –
is ill-informed. I will demonstrate in this piece that resignation is a
constitutional value under the Constitution of 1994. Therefore, any call for
the resignation of a public officer must be treated with the importance and
reverence such a call deserves.
The
Constitution is founded on nine principles: The people are
the root of legal and political authority of the State; second, the exercise of
the legal and political authority of the State flows from the Constitution
itself; third, the exercise of the legal and political authority of the State
shall be for the protection of the interests of the people; fourth, persons
exercising the powers of the State do so on trust; fifth, persons exercising
powers of the State are under a duty to do so lawfully and in line with their
responsibilities to the people; sixth, the maintenance of the trust for the
exercise of the powers of the State depends on an open, accountable and
transparent government, and informed democratic choice; seventh, the
recognition and protection of human rights of persons in the country is derived
from the inherent dignity and worth of every person; eighth, all persons are
equal before the law; and finally, the Constitution has universal application
to all persons and institutions and every person and institution shall comply
with it.
The discharge of the mandate of a public office is not self-serving in
order to caress the ego of an incumbent. The discharge of such mandate has
constitutional underpinnings. The interests of the people of Malawi; their
trust; and the requirement to uphold an open, accountable and transparent
government – all these – are paramount under Malawi’s constitutional order. A
state of resignation under our Constitution shall arise when, in the discharge
of the mandate of a public office, a public officer fails to meet the
expectations of the people of Malawi at all levels: their interests; their
trust; and open governing. Hence, in the event that there is this failure
resignation must be triggered. No ifs. No buts. A call for resignation is based
on an ‘indictment’ of a public officer that the officer is no longer serving
the interests of the people; that the people have lost their trust in the
officer; and that the officer has not been open, accountable and transparent in
the discharge of the mandate of his office. In this regard, resignation is no
longer mere semantics. It is technical and a constitutional value.
The view that resignation of a public officer must arise only where
there is a ‘finding of guilty’ after a quasi-judicial or judicial process is
not only deluded but also unconstitutional. The sovereignty of the people
relies on a composite rationality. A call for resignation when made as an
invocation of a constitutional value cannot be ignored. It is a call for
resignation based on the composite rationality of the people of Malawi. It is
also a call that seeks to preserve the respect and dignity of a public office.
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