NOCMA saga: Malawi’s energy minister Kambala, 2 others out on bail

BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)—The Lilongwe Magistrate Court has granted bail to Minister of Energy, Newton Kambala, AFORD president Enoch Chihana and presidential aide Chris Chaima Banda.

The bail is bonded at K200 000 each. Other conditions include two traceable sureties, surrender to court all travel documents.

Additionally, upon ACB request, the court has said the accused persons should report to ACB head office every fortnight.

Before granting the bail, the Lilongwe Magistrate Court read out five counts against Kambala, first accused person, Chihana, second accused person and Chaima Banda, third accused person.

The three accused all pleaded not guilty to the five counts.

Kambala faces three counts of conspiracy to influence a public officer to abuse their office; misuse of public office and alternative count of attempting to influence a public officer.

Chihana faces two counts of conspiracy to influence abuse of office and attempting to influence a public officer.

Chaima Banda faces two counts of conspirancy to influence a public officer to abuse office and attempting to influence a public officer.

Maneno Chimulala

I am a journalist, educator, and activist with passion for telling stories about social justice, sports and political issues. I graduated from Mzuzu University. I started my career at the Maravi Post online publication in 2012 as an intern while in college. Upon graduating from Mzuzu University I was offered a job as Sports Reporter because of my background as a goalkeeper and rose to the position of sub editor. I also had a short stint with Nyasatimes, Malawi Punch and Malawi Digest. Over the past seven years, I have worked intimately with rural organizations and communities in Malawi on human rights, girl child education and grassroots development projects. With an academic background in education, I also volunteer as male champion for girls’ education under Girls Empowerment Networks (GENET) in Malawi’s South West Education Division (SWED).