BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)-In a dramatic turn of events, political figure Ken Msonda has written to his lawyer, Gladwel Majekete, along with his accomplices, Frederick Malata and Fryson Chodzi, demanding that they stop using his name without consent.
Msonda asserts that his reputation should not be tarnished by association.
In an interview with Maravi Post Msonda claims that his previous case with Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) President, Peter Mutharika, came to an end after he publicly apologized and dropped the charges against Mutharika. Therefore, he argues that his name must no longer be utilized in any capacity by his former associates.
“My case I was pursuing against My Father Peter Mutharika is water under the bridge, I even apologized. Those using my name in that case must stop or will seek legal redress,” said Msonda.
The concerned party announced his intentions to seek legal redress if Malaya and Chodzi persist in using his name without authorization.
Furthermore, Msonda expressed his intent to report his lawyer to the Malawi Law Society (MLS) for unauthorized use of his name.
In response to Msonda’s accusations, lawyer Majekete acknowledged that he had been preoccupied and had not yet familiarized himself with Msonda’s recent actions.
Expert law analyst Victor Chipofya lends support to Msonda’s position.
Chipofya concurs that if Msonda formally withdrew the case against President Mutharika, it follows that his name ought not to be invoked without his explicit consent.
Chipofya asserts that Msonda reserves the right to report his lawyer to the Malawi Law Society and seek legal redress regarding this infringement.
It is worth noting that the trio, Msonda, Chodzi, and Malaya, recently approached the court for an interpretation regarding the eligibility of DPP President, Peter Mutharika, to stand as the party’s candidate.
This potentially significant development further underscores the ongoing tensions and complexities in the country’s political landscape.
With Msonda determined to reclaim control over the use of his name, the legal battle that ensues promises to expose the intricacies of this high-profile case.
As the issue unfolds, Malawians eagerly await resolution and clarity on matters concerning their political leaders.
LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-The embattled Attorney General (AG) Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda was clearly in a foul mood after the High Court (Commercial Division) adjourned the hearing of a case in which Fryson Chodzi of Forum for National Development (FND) obtained an injunction stopping National Bank of Malawi (NBM) and NBS Bank from lending the Malawi Government MK105 billion.
Insiders who are aware of the panic the injunction has caused within the higher corridors of power say Chakaka Nyirenda’s visible desperation to have the injunction vacated reflects the sense of urgency of those expected to benefit from the MK105 billion.
The panic and anger has also been reported to have engulfed the Presidency as it was still not clear if President Lazarus Chakwera has already signed the April 6, 2023, Loan Authorisation Bill into law after it was bulldozed into the National Assembly.
This publication understands that President Lazarus Chakwera’s Tonse Alliance government agencies are moving towards harassing Chodzi.
This week Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) moved in demanding taxes from Chodzi as to suffocate his efforts on this matter
This could be a sign that he has rattled some sensitive matter senior government officials would want not exposed. We will continue to update this story.
The Bill was posted online at 9.40 pm a day before being tabled around 10 am despite the larger protests that it lacks transparency and the fundamental change in financing mode from the contractor finding the funds to asking debt-ridden Malawians to borrow on behalf of a private company.
Appearing on Wednesday morning, May 17, 2023 before Justice Ken Manda, the AG wanted the court to dismiss the matter on several grounds, a quest supported by the contractor’s legal team led by Chancy Gondwe and the Banks lawyers Lester Mwantisi and Tisume Mwaungulu.
Chodzi lawyer Edgar Kachere prayed that the matter be adjourned to comply with court rules that two clear days should be provided to the applicants for them to study documents related to the case.
The Judge who heard the matter in chambers agreed with Chodzi’s lawyers and asked the lawyers for their availability.
None were available on alternative dates that Justice Manda set May 30 as a day he will dispose of all the matters.
Justice Manda ordered Chodzi to file all documents by Monday, May 22, and the defendants by Thursday 25th of May with a full hearing on the injunction and requests to be removed from the case by the Banks also dealt with on May 30.
AG Nyirenda is reportedly to have attempted to apply for a stay on the adjournment which the Judge advised him to do a written application and dates will be allocated for such a hearing.
It will be seen if the Government or Khato Civils will file, as part of its documents the contract which has been hidden from the public since 2016.
The contract could reveal what Malawi Government officials committed to Khato and be tested if it meets public interests.
Without any Feasibility or Environment Impact studies, politicians pushed for the project without any consideration for public finances but their pockets, until the World Bank and IMF raised concerns about its impact on Malawi’s debt.
The project has since undergone changes that now its priced at MK500 billion, almost six percent of current debt levels, which the IMF is not sustainable.
Simbi Phiri owns Khato Civil Limited who has been boasting in the media to have sponsored major political parties during 2019 general elections and 2020 Presidential Elections.
LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-The country’s civil rights group, Forum for National Development (FND) has called on Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to investigate President Lazarus Chakwera’s son Pastor Nick Chakwera amid allegations that he has questionably acquired a stone crusher and two pharmacies worth MK2.85 billion.
On Thursday, October 14, 2022 FND through its national coordinator Fryson Chodzi penned bureau to investigate social media reports linking Chakwera to dubious transactions.
According to FND, it is alleged that Chakwera has a stone crusher planted at Nathenje in Lilongwe valued at US$1 million (about MK1.1 billion).
“The allegations further state that the stone crusher was bought by one of the construction companies who has won major roads and infrastructure projects purportedly as a kickback for his influence in the awarding of contracts to the company,” reads part of the letter.
It is also alleged that Chakwera used cash to buy a MK750 million pharmacy in Blantyre and a MK1 billion pharmacy in Lilongwe
FND wants Chakwera to come out clean and disclose the nature of businesses he is in and to produce invoices and evidence of the purchases made.
“It is in the public interest for the ACB to investigate Chakwera especially where it is alleged that he is obtaining favors owing to the fact that he is the son of the president and he is exploiting that.
“In addition, if the transactions ever happened, there is a need to ascertain the source of funds for Chakwera and demonstrate that he is not acquiring money illegally,” says Chodzi.
Nick is yet to respond on Chodzi’s letter.
Pastor Nick Chakwera has been on social media recently for various corruption allegation that ended suing some media influencers in court.
LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-The country’s civil right grouping under the banner Forum for National Development (FND) still feels Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) Director General Martha Chizuma needs to go seriously discipline process for violating office’s oath secrecy over leaked audio.
The grouping observes that Chizuma has not learnt any lesson over the leaked audio that exposes ACB office model of fighting corruption to the public.
In a statement made available to The Maravi Post on Wednesday, March 9, 2022 signed by its National Coordinator Fryson Chodzi says the ACB boss has antagonized the legal fraternity and until she names and shame the 20 corrupt lawyers and prosecute them named in the leaked audio.
Chodzi observes that Chizuma has broken the law under oath of secrecy which carries a prison sentence or fine, and only until she exonerate herself.
“She will be looked at as a law breaker who only survived at the mercy of the President. Chizuma has proven that she is sympathy seeking by talking sensitive matters with people outside her office which brings to question the level of exposure that ACB has suffered.
“Our anticipation was that the Director was to undergo the disciplinary process and ensure that the right remedies are in place so that confidence in the ACB is restored. President Chakwera made it worse by going against his own pillar of rule of law and meted a forgiveness towards the Director which is not part of the laws of Malawi. The president should have allowed the Director to go through the due process of the law and if upon found guilty, he should have pardoned her as the law requires,” says Chodzi.
Currently, Chizuma faces two law suits from individuals who were injured in a leaked audio for corruption allegation.
Below is FND full state on need for Martha Chizuma be disciplined:
UPHOLDING RULE OF LAW IN FIGHTING CORRUPTION
Forum for National Development (FND) have been engaging several constitutionally instituted bodies that are involved in the ongoing investigations of politically exposed persons alleged to have received bribes from Mr. Zuneth Sattar.
We have raised issues with the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC), the Attorney General (AG) the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), the Judiciary, the Malawi Law Society as well as the British Government on how the matter is being handled which we fear would jeopardize the entire processes and demanding full disclosure of information.
We were therefore shocked by the leaked audio of ACB Director which President Dr. Lazurus Chakwera authenticated in his national address on 24th January 2022. The contents in the audio undermined the entire justice system, corruption fight and above all, compromised the ACB Director stance as a law abiding citizen by breaking the law of oath of secrecy under the corrupt practices act. We have observed the following three things out of the leaked audio;
Lives of staff at ACB are endangered
There is nothing as dangerous for ACB as to have a Director who divulges information concerning the Bureau to third parties because you can get investigators of the Bureau killed. This is so because it is very difficult to know the context of how much more information has been divulged to third parties. The Bureau oath of secrecy is to ensure success for cases when they go to court on one hand while on the other is to protect the lives of the staff at ACB who come across very sensitive information. It’s not in a distant past that an Officer of the Bureau was murdered, Mr. Issa Njaunju whose death to date still remains a mystery. Nobody has bothered to find out who was leaking information from the ACB which eventually led to the death of Njaunju.
The public Trust being undermined: After the leaked audio and events thereof, Ms. Chizuma was supposed to work towards gaining public trust either by issuing a public apology or by disowning the audio. We have noted that the ACB Director has shown no remorse and we have noted a heightened propaganda which seeks to sweep under the carpet the wrong doing of the Director. What is more bizarre is the fact that the Director’s stay at ACB is at the mercy of forgiveness of the appointing authority of which as the public we don’t know the concessions that were agreed upon in order to arrive at that decision.
Law breaking
From the leaked audio discussion, FND strongly believes that these laws were broken which both of them carries a prison sentence and a fine. • Directly revealing official information to an unauthorized person, contrary to regulation 4 (a) of the Corrupt Practices (Oath of Secrecy) Regulations. • Making use of speech capable of prejudicing a person against a party to judicial proceedings, contrary to section 113 (1) (d) of the Penal Code.
Our anticipation was that the Director was to undergo the disciplinary process and ensure that the right remedies are in place so that confidence in the ACB is restored. President Chakwera made it worse by going against his own pillar of rule of law and meted a forgiveness towards the Director which is not part of the laws of Malawi.
The president should have allowed the Director to go through the due process of the law and if upon found guilty, he should have pardoned her as the law requires.
As a result of the above, we were compelled to report the matter to the authorities through Magistrate courts. The laws of Malawi Section 83 (1) (a) and (2) of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Code recognizes that criminal proceedings can be commenced by a report of any such crime to the police or when it’s probable that the police will not act, the report can be made to the judicial officer in this case, the Magistrate.
The magistrate has determined that our Counsel has no prosecutorial powers over criminal matters and that rests in the hands of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), of which we find it strange as our role was just to report the alleged offences and we expected at the least, the magistrate to ask the DPP to determine whether the matter is worthy prosecution or not.
However, the determination does not in any way render the report invalid or clears the wrong doing on the part of the ACB Director.
Notwithstanding this, we are of conviction that Ms. Martha Chizuma’s position at ACB is unattainable as she cannot successfully prosecute and secure any conviction relate to corruption unless her wrong doing undergoes a due process of the law for the following reasons;
1.She has antagonized the very same courts she will seek justice from and until she reveals the name of the corrupt judges and also expose the judge who got money from Mr. Ashok Nair.
2. She has already prejudiced other suspects under the law which might lead to mistrial.
3. She has antagonized the legal fraternity and until she names and shame the 20 corrupt lawyers and prosecute them.
4. She has been compromised by the President’s forgiveness which is breaking of the law in itself.
5. She has broken the law under oath of secrecy which carries a prison sentence or fine, and only until she exonerate herself, she will be looked at as a law breaker who only survived at the mercy of the President.
6. She has proven that she is sympathy seeking by talking sensitive matters with people outside her office which brings to question the level of exposure that ACB has suffered
7. She has proven to be an agent and serving interest of a foreign government especially that of Britain and other western Government by her own admission that ‘Azungu trust her’.
Based on the foregoing and with strong conviction we have, FND continue to urge the appointing authority and indeed Ms. Martha Chizuma to do what is right by allowing the rule of law to take its course.
We ought to remember that fighting corruption is a collective responsibility and cannot be personalized. Malawians must remove the emotions attached to the issue and start looking at the bigger picture and take time to reflect whether the fight against corruption is attainable under the circumstances.
The lives of staff of ACB are endangered if leaking of information is not treated as a serious offense. The same is with public trust and law breaking.
There are still more avenues that FND is exploring to ensure that the rule of law is adhered to by both the Executive and indeed the ACB Director which we believe is paramount for ACB to properly discharge its responsibilities.
We will not relent in this matter as failure to address this gross miscarriage of the law will render ACB impotent and having the Director at ACB at the mercy of the Executive orders.
Civil society organisation activists on Thursday stormed parliament to present a petition against the decision by legislators to increase their daily sitting and subsistence allowance, threatening protests and vigil if the decision is not reversed.
One of the CSOs leaders Fryson Chozi said the activists will first seek dialogue on the matter.
“We will first engage the Parliamentary Service Commission which is chaired by the speaker. If this fails, then we will not come here as good citizens as we have done today,” he said.
Parliament rises on Friday and Chozi hoped the issue will be brought back into the House before the rising at noon.
Speaker of Parliament Richard Msowoya summoned members of the Parliamentary Service Commission for an urgent meeting to discuss the issue.
Receiving the petition, chairman of the members of parliament welfare committee Alex Meja said he would present the petition to the relevant authorities.
“I am not the authority to act upon the petition,” he said.
However, in previous media interviews, he said the legislators would not reverse the decision.
He argued that the high cost of living necessitated the increase in the allowances.
In addition, the MPs have also awarded themselves a duty free tax status on the vehicles they want to import.
LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)- One of the country’s civil society organization, Forum for National Development (FND), on Monday took a swipe at President Peter Mutharika for conniving with a powerful Indian family, that led to the deportation of one of the country’s businessmen, Chandrasheker More, on grounds of tax evasion and insulting law enforcers.
The organization accuses President Mutharika for being captivated by the powerful Indian family whose relationship went sour with More, hence the deportation.
The CSO questioned Malawi Government silence on More’s business partners, who up to-date, have not been arrested, despite the “powerful Indian family” being at the centre of cash-gate and numerous corruption scandals.
FND fears that if the matter is not handled well, it will create a diplomatic spat predicting that Malawi stands to lose more, since India is Malawi’s biggest export market, coupled with credit facilities Malawi enjoys from it.
In a press statement, issued on Monday and made available to The Maravi Post, and signed by its National Coordinator, Chairperson and concerned citizens Fryson Chodzi, Bright Kampaundi, and Chikumbutso Mtumodzi, respectively, FND demands Government explanation to Malawians on the allegations about the State being captivated by the Asian family.
It clearly reads that enough of leaving particular families or the State President’s friends untouched when these are embroiled in corrupt practices.
FDN also calls on Government to explain why it deported Mr. More, who is alleged to have evaded tax without the nation getting the money back.
It adds that Government must explain why it is afraid to let More face justice and doesn’t even want him to appear in court.
“We challenge the Government to release the files and records of the offence that Mr. More is alleged to have committed which led to his deportation, and the measures that the Government undertook to bring Mr. More to justice.
“The Government should come up with a statement clearing the mist that has been precipitated by the confusion created on the deportation of Mr. More. We are saying this because, Malawi is geared to attract foreign direct investments as one way of strengthening the economy. However, the (kid-glove) treatment of Mr. More, will retard would-be investors, and this will render the Government investment drive initiative useless”, reads the statement in part.
FND therefore calls upon Government to investigate the role and allegations leveled on the Asian family who partnered and swindled More, especially that the family seems to be powerful and untouchable and has the whole State under its armpits.
But in an interview with The Maravi Post ?Monday night?, Presidential Secretary Mgeme Kalirani, disputed the FND claims of the State House being captivated by the unknown powerful Indian family.
Kalirani said the statement and allegations lack sound basis, and that the President’s name is just being maliciously dragged in the mud for no substantive reason.
“The President is being accused of links to an undisclosed family. Allegations are being made against an undisclosed individual at State House. How will we discuss the unknown family and the undisclosed individuals? That will be a wild discussion,” said Kalirani.
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