BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)—The Malawi High Court has ordered Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) to pay lawyers for President Lazarus Chakwera and his Vice President Saulos Chilima K7, 004, 612, 360 in legal fees for the Presidential Election Case.
Initially, the lawyers for Chakwera and Chilima tabulated and presented a bill of K9 billion but the matter went for assessment on July 28, 2020 before High Court and Supreme Court of Appeal Registrar, Agnes Patemba, who made a determination on August 10.
According Patemba, the first respondent Electoral Commission has been given 45 days to pay the now taxed costs for the Concourt case and 30 days for the Supreme Court appeal case.
“Considering all arguments from both sides, the position of the law, the Court is of the considered view that the bill for the first petitioner be taxed at a total of MK 2,314, 184, 550 and at a total of MK 3,086, 203, 890 for the second petitioner.
“The second respondent (MEC) is ordered to pay the total amount to the first and second petitioners within 45 days from the day of this order,” ordered Patemba pertaining to Concourt case costs.
On the costs of the appeal case at the Supreme Court, Patemba has taxed the bill of the First Respondent at a total amount of K877, 760, 000.00 and K726, 463, 920.00 for the Second Respondent.
MEC has been ordered to pay the bill within 30 days.
Taxation in this matter has nothing to do with the Malawi Revenue Authority. It is the process whereby a judicial officer (in this case the Registrar of the High Court and Supreme Court) goes through the bill presented by the winning side, item by item and allows certain costs while refusing, or partially allowing others depending on her assessment.
During taxation, the party (side) that must pay the costs is given an opportunity to object to the items in the bill. Therefore the taxation can be quite a battle between the side that was awarded costs (winning side) and the side that was condemned in costs (losing side).
In most taxations, the parties will agree by the end of the process what the costs are. After the Registrar has taxed the bill, the taxed bill is now enforceable as any liquidated judgment.
If the Electoral Commission does not pay within the stipulated period, the other side may enforce the rulings via Sheriffs or attaching (freezing) the accounts of the Electoral Commission.
The Electoral Commission can however appeal against the rulings on the taxation to the Supreme Court of Appeal which would then have to re-tax the costs.
UTM president Chilima and Malawi Congress Party (MCP) president Chakwera won the presidential election case in which they were challenging the outcome of May 2019 presidential elections.
MEC and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) president Peter Mutharika were the first and the second respondent in the case.
Meanwhile, South Africa based Professor of Law Danwood Chirwa has advised the electoral body to appeal against the costs, arguing K7 billion for lawyers sounds unreasonable.
“ I’m still wrapping my head around the costs assessment orders made in favour of Tonse Alliance lawyers. Somewhere close to 7billion Kwacha meant for four lawyers. Malawian lawyers must explain whether there has been examples of a lawyer charging for all possible billable hours in a year and earning at least 1.5 billion Kwacha.
“The electoral commission must also disclose how much it paid Chokoto and others so that people know exactly how much in total the taxpayer has lost through the polls case and who has benefited the most. This doesn’t sound right. The commission must do the right thing and appeal the order, all the way to the SCA if it has to,” argues Chirwa.
One of the lawyers to benefit from the hefty bill is Chikosa Silungwe, who is the current Attorney General (AG). He represented Chilima the first petitioner Chilima in the historic case.
Ideally, Silungwe was supposed to represent Mec in the matter as AG since it is the government which will pay the fees, but he opted out of the matter citing conflict of interest.
Another beneficiary is the legend Modercai Msiska who rejected the ministerial position in the new administration. He was a lead counsel of Chakwera’s legal team.
