By Vincent Gunde
Five senior Malawi Defence Force (MDF) officers in the Ranks of Major General to Brigadier General, have obtain a court injunction restraining the new government of the DPP led by President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika from redeploying them to various civilian institutions.
The Army Generals in the names of Major General Chikuntha Soko, Major General Saiford Kalisha, Major General Kakhuta Banda, Major General Gerald Mchungula and Brigadier General Harold Dzoole were redeployed to serve in civilian institutions such as ADMARC, NOCMA, ESCOM and Electricity Generation Company (EGENCO) as Security Directors.
This is the first litmus test for the DPP led government of President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika redeploying officers to serve in government departments and later, the employees obtaining a court injunction stopping the government which is the appointing authority not to redeploy them.
Seasoned journalist and MCP diehard Dickson Kashotii took the injunction statement to his face book page that the five Army Generals have been granted an injunction against their illegal and unconstitutional removal from their respective offices.
Kashoti said according to the law, the President can remove only the Army Commander and his Deputy while the rest of the officers, is the duty of the Defence and Security Council to act on them according to Section 161 (4) (b).
However, social commentator Steve Kauka responding basing on his understanding of the practicality of government’s decision based on employment issues, conditions of service’s industrial relations laws said as per the court injunction, the Army Generals will continue to work in their current positions and locations exercising their powers and privileges.
Kauka said the order of the injunction prevents any action from government to disturb their tenure or remove them from office saying the primary implication is that the government as the appointing authority is legally required to stop the action that the injunction forbids.
He said the purpose of a temporary injunction is to maintain the existing situation (status quo) until the court can make a final decision on the merits of the case saying this prevents irreversible harm from occurring in the meantime.
“The injunction effectively “freezes” the Army Generals employment status, meaning they retain their current roles,’ said Kauka.
He said the injunctions in judicial review proceedings are a crucial way for court to ensure that the government must work within the legal system to challenge the injunction if it believes it is unfair or incorrectsaying the risk of contempt of court that if the government, its agents or servants disobey the court order, they can face severe penalties, including fines, or imprisonment.
Kauka finally said the incumbent government of the DPP can lift the injunction obtained by the five Army Generals and proceed to implement the action saying matters of judicial review also have to be considered.
