Deconstructing the office of the Vice President and its equivalent

This opinion piece will discuss the role of the Vice Presidency and its equivalent, and what it represents in government. There are a number of definitions regarding this office with some countries such as South Africa terming it Deputy President. The office of the Vice Presidency has very recently been a topic of considerable popularity in the media as the US Presidential race is well on its way with the Democratic Party's Presidential candidate and front-runner Joe Biden's choice of a running mate gaining a lot of interest, and after going through a considerable number of candidates he finally opted for California Senator Kamala Harris after making the difficult decision and foregoing other very capable candidates. This illustrates just how important the Vice President post is, even during an election before being voted into office as she/he will play an important part in making sure that they support the agenda of their "boss" who is the president. In this opinion piece I will give a more solid definition of the Vice President and what this office in government actually entails before defining its role from a variety of different examples globally with some very interesting and fascinating examples that are not well known in the mainstream, so brace yourself for a very unique understanding of the Vice Presidency.

Definition of Vice President

According to the online Cambridge dictionary this role is defined as; "the person who has the position immediately below the president in some countries, and who is responsible for the president's duties if he or she is unable to do them". 

So from the get go it is quite clear that the position of Vice President is not one of being the leader but the second in charge or second most powerful position in the land. Well, yes and no! While this maybe the case on paper, that is, in terms of the constitution, in many nations on the ground lets just say things may turn out a lot different. This was witnessed under the administration of George W Bush who chose a running mate that had a "vast amount of national experience" and this person was Dick Cheney who previously served as a White House chief of staff under President Ford, a congressman, and defense secretary under the first President Bush, and he knew how Washington works unlike his boss who had no national experience other than being the governor of Texas. However, Cheney's list of high profile positions in the top levers of government probably led him to make some decisions that could have been viewed as being above the executive, the President himself, termed executive overreach on handling classified information that prompted criticism as he is said to have ignored an executive order. Thus, this is why he has been often called "the most powerful US Vice President" to date. An interesting development is currently taking place in US politics where Joe Biden, a former Vice President himself interestingly enough, has chosen a running mate and should he win the November election there is on-going conversations that she could be a very powerful Vice President, or "veep" as it is commonly called in the United States, for a number of reasons, one of which being her age as Joe Biden would be 78 years old and Harris would be 55 should they win and be sworn in on January, 20 2021 and another one being her good debating skills.

Each country has a defined role for this position in their constitutions. I will discuss a few countries and link it to their constitutions before elaborating further on how the Vice Presidents and its equivalents in each country conduct their role and bring in interesting, controversial aspects to the person(s) holding those positions in those countries and how they have conducted themselves. The countries I will discuss are:

• Malawi
• UK (Deputy Prime Minister)
• China
• Saudi Arabia (Deputy Prime Minister/ 'Crown Prince')

Malawi

The Constitution of Malawi in Section 79 allows the country to have two Vice Presidents. However, the need for two Vice Presidents should only be accepted should the President desire to have one in the national interest as stated in Section 80 of the Constitution of Malawi. It appears that the newly elected President, Lazarus Chakwera, did not deem it necessary and selected only one Vice President, Soulos Chilima who has served in this position in two administrations with the first one being under the administration of Peter Mutharika. According to the official government website regarding the Office of the Vice President, it describes its core function which is "to offer strategic support to the Head of State and government in general in running the affairs of the country for the betterment of the people of Malawi". This makes this office the second most powerful position in the land. The position of Vice President in Malawi may appear as relatively straightforward at first glance but this is further from the truth when looking back at how this position has created loggerheads with two administrations, ironically both led by the Mutharika brothers, firstly the late Bingu wa Mutharika and his younger brother who recently lost the 2020 elections to Chakwera, Peter Mutharika. The controversy surrounding this position stems from a running mate clause in the Malawi Constitution in which the Vice President cannot be dismissed by the President, the President only has that jurisdiction to do so for the Second Vice President in Section 86. This was the reason why Peter Mutharika could not remove Soulos Chilima when he resigned from the ruling party and formed his own party, the United Transformation Movement (UTM) following a fall out between the two in 2018. A very similar situation took place under Bingu Wa Mutharika in 2010 when he fired his Vice President, Joyce Banda, as the Vice President of his party, the Democratic People's Party (DPP) following the now familiar "fall-out" leading her to form her own party in 2011 called the Peoples Party (PP) and because she was constitutionally the Vice President of the country she assumed power in 2012 following the death of  President Bingu wa Mutharika. 

UK

The United Kingdom (UK) is a constitutional monarch and does not have a President or Vice President. The position of Vice President in the UK's context can be likened to that of Deputy Prime Minister. In the UK the position of Deputy Prime Minister is a complex one as it is not a permanent position and since its creation in 1942 only eight people have held the role. Thus, this position does not fall in the line of succession as one usually assumes and serves at the pleasure of the Prime Minister (PM) as the de facto second in government, after the Prime Minister. In fact the position of the First Secretary of State "appears to be more powerful" in my view, although this position also has no specific powers other than having the responsibility of oversight of all Cabinet Office policies and giving advice to the PM .The title of Deputy PM is not mentioned in the UK's uncodified constitution which explains its "lack of relevance or importance" in the British government. The last holder of the position was Nick Clegg of the Liberal Democrats between 2010-2015 and the position has been vacant since then. Clegg was unlikely going to become PM should David Cameron, who was the PM at the time, had become incapacitated as Clegg was from another party as part of the coalition between Clegg's party and Cameron's Conservative party. It is important to note at this point that despite the powers the PM possesses in appointing whom she/he desires, the sovereign has the constitutional right to form the government, the sovereign being none other than Queen Elizabeth II. This means that even if the position of PM were to become vacant for various reasons, such as dismissal or resignation,  leading to someone succeeding the PM, the Queen as sovereign still as the right, at least constitutionally, to select someone to form the next government. However, this has never happened as the role of the Queen as Head of State is a largely ceremonial one and it appears that the Queen finds it comfortable to be in the background and not interfere in the toxic nature of British politics. In terms of the next in line of succession to the sovereign, this is reserved to the heir apparent to the British throne who is currently Prince Charles, the eldest child of Queen Elizabeth II. This vividly shows the weakness of the Deputy PM post and appears, at least in my view that the post of First Secretary of State being of more prominence of late following PM Boris Johnson falling ill with the coronavirus which left him briefly hospitalised and requiring him to have someone to stand by for him while he was in intensive care in April, 2020, leading Foreign Secretary and First Secretary of State Dominic Raab to temporarily 'deputise' him during that period as requested by Johnson. This was probably due to this position having the responsibility of assisting the PM in government as one of its responsibilities. 

China

The Vice President of the People’s Republic of China is a powerful position as the Vice President is expected to assist the President in his duties and rather than the President himself selecting a Vice President, it is the National People's Congress who elects the Vice President and is the highest organ of state power in China. This vividly shows the power of the National People's Congress which is stated in Article 62 of the Constitution of China. The National People's Congress also elects the President of the People's Republic of China and this is the most democratic aspect taking place in the country which however does not elect the President based on universal suffrage. According to Article 84 of the Constitution of China should the office of the President fall vacant the Vice President has the constitutional right to become the President and this means that the Vice President is the second most powerful position in the country. Several Chinese Vice Presidents have also become successors to the President and the most prominent being current President Xi Jinping who was Vice President from 2008 to 2013. The current Vice President is Wang Qishan who assumed the post in 2018 after being elected by the National People's Congress, seen as a largely 'rubber-stamp parliament', is seen as a close ally of the President. The post of Vice President is only allowed two five year terms in line with the National People's Congress. Most members of the National People's Congress, which number about 3000 members, and elects the Vice President represent the Chinese Communist Party. 

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy with the King holding absolute control of the country and serves as the Prime Minister as well. The current Monarch is King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud but it is widely believed that his son Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) is "the power behind the throne" and has been the King's successor since been appointed as Crown Prince in 2017, the second most powerful position in the country, and is also reserved for the Deputy Prime Minister position, making the Crown Prince position a sort of equivalent to the Vice President. According to Article 65 of the Saudi Arabia Constitution "the King may delegate parts of his authority to the Crown Prince" which signifies how powerful this position is. The Allegiance Council elects both the King and Crown Prince and this same council elected MBS as Crown Prince following the controversial removal of the former Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef in 2017 by the orders of King Salman. King Salman actually has the constitutional right to relieve the Crown Prince of his duties as it is stated in Article 5 of the Saudi Arabia Constitution. Mohammed bin Nayef himself was made Crown Prince following King Salmon's decision to remove another earlier Crown Prince, Prince Muqrin which the Washington Post described as "unprecedented" in the modern history of Saudi Arabia. One reason for the rise of MBS is due to the line of succession being passed from King Abdulaziz since his death in 1953 which led to several of his sons in recent times becoming Kings well over the age of 70 with King Salman (who became King at 79 years old) settling this issue by creating a pathway for the grandsons of Abdulaziz to become Kings. Perhaps the hastened decision came about following the deaths of two Crown Princes in less than a year in 2011 and 2012, both of whom were well over 70 years and the current King himself has not been in the best of health himself, hence the need for a younger leader. This has made MBS's position even more powerful as age is on his side (he is currently 34 years old) as he is also seen as the de facto leader of the country and a reformist, although he has been involved in a number of controversies, who is spearheading a massive and ambitious vision for his country called Vision 2030 to modernise Saudi Arabia.

Can Lazarus Chakwera bring meaningful change to Malawi?

The road to the 2020 Presidential election re-run in Malawi can best be described as a ‘nail-biting’, increasingly polarised and a tense journey. Malawi has been going through economic and political strife for some time now and under then President Peter Mutharika (80) and his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), despite his government’s commitment to deal with these challenges, in addition to the high rates of corruption, unfortunately his administration failed to quell these myriad of problems. The planned 2019 election even before it occurred had already been viewed from afar as a ‘make or break’ election and just as Mutharika wanted to continue his rule into a second term, so too did the opposition which comprised of high-profile candidates one of them being Mutharika’s own Vice President whom he had a fall-out with in 2018 (interestingly enough a similar situation that plagued Peter Mutharika’s late brother and former President Bingu Wa Mutharika and his Vice President Joyce Banda), Saulos Chilima (47), a successful business man who was once in charge of the country’s largest cellular network Airtel Malawi and a much younger candidate than his previous boss. There were several others but the third most prominent one was Clergyman Lazarus Chakwera (65) of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP). Mutharika was declared the winner of that election but opposition leaders such as Chakwera vehemently challenged the results on the grounds of wide-spread voter irregularities, such as the use of tippex which was a correctional fluid used to alter some results.

This led to a court case with the country’s Constitutional Court making the difficult but brave decision of nullifying the election and calling for a new one, a decision Mutharika opposed, and was only the second time that an African country had cancelled an election. The first country to do so was Kenya following its disputed election in 2017. However, Malawi stands out as the only country in Africa where the opposition won following the re-run of the election. This decision by the court went a step further and changed the electoral system from “first-past-the-post” to a system where the winner must receive more than 50% of the vote. Chakwera, who initially came second in the 2019 election formed a coalition with Chilima’s United Transformation Movement (UTM) and eight other parties, including the Peoples Party (PP) which is led by former President Joyce Banda, called the Tonse Alliance and the alliance won the election by a majority garnering almost 59%. Malawi has now passed the period of transition and an end of more than a decade of Mutharika rule, with a brief respite between 2012-2014, by the Mutharika brothers and is now in a time of its new government to deliver on its promises.

“The elephant in the room”

Malawi like most countries on the African continent has been bedevilled by corruption which has brought its economy to its knees and several high profile cases come to light such as Malawi's biggest financial scandal known as “cashgate” in 2013 which likely led to former President Joyce Banda losing elections that year and coming number three. The rates of corruption are shocking for a country largely dependent on donor funds and its lack of a diversified economy as the country lacks the diversity or rather quantity of mineral deposits that its neighbouring countries enjoy means it is cash strapped and its only meaningful source of economic output is its fertile land as its economy is largely based on agriculture, followed by tourism as the country enjoys a variety of wonderful natural sights such as the famous Lake Malawi, game reserves and its largest mountain, Mount Mulanje. Hence, Chakwera has his work cut out for him as he mentioned in his inaugural address after been sworn in to office that “we must clear the rubble of corruption” which was one of his campaign pledges, in addition to reviving the economy and in a time of the novel coronavirus his task to rebuild the economy will indeed be very great. Chakwera will also have to make great strides in uniting the country as it is divided along ethnic and regional lines, with Chakwera’s party enjoying support from the central and northern areas of Malawi.

According to Dewa Mavhinga, Southern Africa director at Human Rights Watch, President Chakwera must place human rights and rule of law at the centre of his new government. This is because the country experienced a spike in political violence, particularly electoral violence with opposition politicians and activists being harassed prior to the re-run election in June. This will be in line with the Presidents own inauguration speech in which he said “Malawi will be for everyone” and putting action to this early in his presidency without unnecessary delays or diversions will put his government on the right trajectory, which will improve its image both regionally on the African continent and internationally.

‘Regaining trust with the international community and becoming less reliant on donor aid’

Malawi needs to reclaim the trust of donors following revelations of plunder of public resources in October 2013. “Development assistance in form of direct budget support is an important part of financing for Malawi”, according to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) resident representative Farai Gwenhamo, and while the there have been some improvements in public finance management to safeguard financial resources for the government, the country has to regain the trust of development partners. Hence, the IMF will wait and see whether such reforms towards public finance management will produce results and this is where Chakwera can really show sound leadership through being transparent on how his nation uses these funds which will go a long way in regaining donor trust, alleviating poverty and improving economic productivity.

However, Malawi is among the world's most aid-dependent countries accounting over 40% of its national budget which is a concern. One way this opinion piece puts forward for Malawi to reduce its dependency on donor aid is to confront the scourge of corruption which has become endemic in the country. Cashgate stands out as one of the biggest corruption scandals to hit the country where a forensic audit commissioned by the government of Malawi, with support from the UK’s Department for International Development saw as much as 20 billion Malawian Kwacha (approximately US$42 million) disappearing from government coffers. Hence, the urgency in tackling corruption by this new government by enforcing strong measures against this scourge which Chakwera has promised to do.

‘Diversifying its agro-based economy’

One of Chakwera’s campaign pledges was to "revive the Malawian economy" which will indeed be his biggest challenge and the hopes of all Malawians to finally have its own version of the Rwandan economic miracle, which I will call “the Malawian economic miracle”, whereby successful government policy will play an important role in growing the country’s economy through well thought out measures. In order to achieve this Malawi seriously needs to diversify away from cash crops and indeed beyond agriculture because, it leaves the entire economy susceptible to weather shocks and the adverse effects of climate change. As mentioned earlier, Malawi is heavily reliant on donor aid to fund its own needs, hence having an economy largely based on the primary sector, in addition to its budget mainly funded from outside really does not bode well for the Malawian economy and a continuation of this pattern will simply keep the country in its current stagnant state. 

Hence, the new government needs to ‘think outside the box’ and look within its boundaries and see areas that could actually generate sufficient revenue. One area is tourism which generated US$43 million in 2018 and this can be expanded as Malawi is indeed a beautiful place to visit with a variety of places to visit as mentioned in Malawi’s official tourism website, key among them being Lake Malawi which is the fourth largest fresh water lake in the world by volume and third largest lake in Africa, and is an area the government can harness particularly once the current coronavirus pandemic ends. Indeed, it is about time that Malawi changes its trajectory and become one of the fastest growing economies on the continent as it has all the necessary mechanisms for it to succeed. Malawi is not known to be mineral rich like its neighbours in its region but the recent ‘gold rush’ has risen hopes that the country sits on gold deposits which could bode well for its economy in the long run and with a new administration which wants to destroy the scourge of corruption this could further improve the country’s economic fortunes and make it less reliant on donor aid, as well as further diversifying its economy.

‘Chakwera’s new cabinet’

Chakwera recently announced a new cabinet consisting of 31 ministerial positions. This is considered large, especially for a small country like Malawi and the President’s recent appointments did not inspire the confidence the country was hoping for as allegations of nepotism and conflict of interest have arisen. However, Chakwera is fully aware of this, he has to be as Malawians expectations were really high following the dismal performance of the previous administration. According to my own analysis of Chakwera’s decision to select a large cabinet maybe due to the fact that he is in a large coalition which requires positions to be shared amongst the parties involved. The Human Rights Defenders Coalition, which led sustained countrywide protests against the disputed 2019 elections, were not impressed and said it was concerned by nepotism and regionalism in the selection of ministers. President Chakwera defended his new cabinet and emphasised that his decision was based on merit, in a speech to reassure the nation. He also further stated in a message to his new cabinet that, “I want you to hear me and to hear me clearly …You each have five months to produce results that will give Malawians confidence that change has come. Should you prove the sceptics right by being lazy, abusive, wasteful, arrogant, extravagant, divisive and corrupt, I will not hesitate to have you replaced.” Should Chakwera indeed stay true to his word Malawi may finally be on the ‘right path’ to a brighter future.