Friday, April 6, 2012

Confused People

I am coming from Machinjiri Township, located on the outskirts of Blantyre city.
People are talking of the President's health. People ae concerned with what they are hearing from various media outlets. People are sad.
What interested me most is an argument some chips traders had.
Two of the seven guys put stumped their feet down, claiming that Vice-President Joyce Banda is not elligible to take over the presidency from Bingu wa Mutharika because "she comes from a different political party (People's Party)" and not the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
But Malawi Law Society president, John Gift Makhwawa, has already responded to that. Mwakhwawa says "it doesn't matter which political party the Vice-President comes from, so log as she is the Vice-President, she is mandated by law to take over in cases of incapacitation on the part of the President".
The other five chips' sellers also stood  their ground, too, saying Banda is poised tio become Republican President because the Constitution of Malawi says so.
This just depicts the levels of confusion in the country, and highlights the need to conduct civic education and enlighten the citizenry on what, exactly, should be the case, using the Constitution as the basis.

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