Court discharges Karonga Council officials
Karonga first grade magistrate Tabman Chakaka Nyirenda yesterday dismissed a case in which 10 workers at Karonga District Council are alleged to have misused K25.7 million out of the K57.9 million public works money under Masaf IV project.
The discharge follows the State’s failure on four occasions to present to the court evidence of the alleged mismanagement of funds.
Lawyer for the officials, Christon Ghambi, said: “Technically, the discharge means that my clients are no longer answering any case and they are supposed to go back to work. If the State finds evidence, they can restart it, they are not barred.
He stated that the arrests were premature and influenced by councillors, not the law.
Malawi Economic Justice Network (Mejn) Karonga Chapter chairperson Grecian Mbewe, whose grouping held demonstrations that later culminated into the arrest of the officials, said they will respect the court’s decision.
He explained: “We had a meeting at the district commissioner’s office and we saw a draft audit report from the Ministry of Local Government. In the report, there are some queries which the 10 will have to answer. They were supposed to start responding to the queries today [Monday],but failed because they were in court.
“To us, it is not that the case has been fully dismissed. Once the 10 provide the response, we will have a full report and the matter will go back to court.” n
