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April 6th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda
Opposition figure Humphrey Mvula said that the lack of official communication
was “making it difficult to comment on the sticky issue of incapacitation”
of the president and his eventual succession.
Under the constitution, Vice President Joyce Banda is next in line. But that
succession is politically fraught because Mutharika kicked her out of the
ruling party in 2010 as he chose to groom his brother as heir apparent
instead of her.
Her ouster angered many urban voters who saw the move as an attempt by
Mutharika to concentrate his power.
Mutharika, a former World Bank economist who first came to power in 2004, was
re-elected with a sweeping majority in 2009 as president of the poor
southern African country.
But he has increasingly come under fire for attempts to rein in the media and
to shield the government from public criticism.
His feuds with donors and lenders like the International Monetary Fund have
hamstrung the economy in an aid-dependent nation, which is suffering from
shortages of foreign currency that have left Malawi unable to import enough
fuel to meet its needs.
Public frustrations erupted into nationwide street protests in July, when
police shot 19 people dead. Last month a broad coalition of rights groups
called on Mutharika to resign.
Malawi suffered for decades under the brutal dictatorship of Kamuzu Banda, and
is proud of its hard-fought democratic freedoms ushered in with multi-party
elections in 1994.
Any attempt to circumvent the constitution would certainly meet with
resistance, analysts said.
“It’s automatic that she takes over the presidency. The reality on the ground
is that Joyce Banda takes over until the remainder of the term in 2014,
unless someone wants to change the rules,” lawyer Wapona Kita told AFP.
Kita said the constitution “clearly states that in the event of incapacitation
or death of the president, the vice president takes over.”
Banda formed her own People’s Party after being sacked from the ruling party.
Mutharika then filed a case at the High Court seeking to force her from
office, arguing that his running mate had become an opposition figure.
The Nation, an independent newspaper, criticised the government’s handling of
Mutharika’s hospitalisation.
“It is time to do things well through provision of timely information,” the
paper said, adding that the government “could have done better than the
sketchy statements broadcast on state radio – as almost everyone was left
guessing”.
source: AFP
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