Malawi’s law professor president skips first VP, hands Cabinet meeting to second vice president

Malawi President Arthur Peter Mutharika, an 86-year-old Yale-trained constitutional law scholar, on Monday delegated a full Cabinet meeting to Second Vice President Enoch Chihana while he attended to other business in Blantyre  leaving First Vice President Jane Ansah out entirely.

The meeting went ahead at State House in Lilongwe under Chihana’s chairmanship. Ansah, who was in the country, was not invited.

Malawi’s constitution is clear on the order of succession for Cabinet meetings. Section 92(3) states that the president chairs the meetings. In his temporary absence, the first vice president takes over. Only if both are unavailable does the second vice president step in.

Despite that hierarchy, Mutharika skipped his first vice president and went straight to the second. The decision has already drawn criticism from political observers who say the president appears to be sidelining Ansah.

Mutharika is no ordinary politician. He holds a doctorate in law from Yale and spent decades teaching international and comparative constitutional law at Washington University in the United States. Critics are now questioning how a man who made a career studying constitutions is applying his own.

In the past decade, few African presidents have publicly handed over the chairing of a full Cabinet meeting in this manner. Nigeria’s former President Muhammadu Buhari did so repeatedly. Mutharika now joins that short list at age 86.

The Malawi government has offered no detailed explanation beyond saying the president remains in charge