The Maravi Post

BLANTYRE- Former Malawi president Bakili Muluzi is seeking compensation from the government for defamation, false arrest and imprisonment over a coup plot allegedly hatched by his party and a former army general four years, his lawyer said Thursday.

Lawyer Kalekeni Kaphale was quoted by The Nation saying Muluzi as former head of state and leader of his former governing party "suffered total embarrassment and humiliation through his detention, causing untold loss of confidence by the people who trusted him."

Kaphale, one of the country's leading attorneys who is defending Muluzi on his corruption trial, said he had written the attorney general to settle the unspecified compensation claim within three months.

Arrested on treason charges, Muluzi, who ruled the country from 1994 to 2004, was quizzed by police over the coup plot charges hatched by his party and a former army general and was placed under house arrest following his arrest at the country's main airport in Lilongwe as he arrived home from a holiday in Britain.

After alighting from an Air Malawi flight, Muluzi told a radio station he owns that he spent time arguing with police on why he was being arrested on the tarmac of an airport.

He was flown in a military plane to the commercial capital Blantyre where police raided his residence to "search for arms," Muluzi said at the time, saying he allowed the police to search everywhere but they found nothing.

The former president, who wrested power from dictator Kamuzu Banda in the country's first democratic elections, had been linked to a coup plot which was allegedly being hatched by his party and former army general and serving brigadiers.

He, along with the senior army officers and several officials from his ex-ruling party, were never brought to court for trial despite the dramatic arrests causing local and international media interest.

Muluzi, who had laughed off the coup plot charges, said he was not a "violent person to take over government by force."

The ex-leader ruled the impoverished nation from 1994 to 2004 before handing over power to his chosen successor Bingu wa Mutharika.

Mutharika, who has been at loggerheads with the ex-leader since he ditched Muluzi's former ruling party to form his own, had then voiced fears of a plot to topple him.

Eight people, including a former army general and police chief, and two serving brigadiers, were charged with treason, but their trial never took place and the Mutharika administration later paid them millions of kwacha in compensation after they sued the government for unlawful detention.

An ailing Muluzi is still answering charges of siphoning $12 million from donors and meant for development projects. He has denied the charge.
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©2012 The Maravi Post. Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgment

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