Doctors say Kasambara needs treatment

Medical doctors have recommended that former Malawi minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Ralph Kasambara needs specialist attention for his heart condition which his lawyers claim has deteriorated since his arrest on Friday last week.

However, despite pleas from Kasambara’s lawyers that he needed immediate medical attention, the High Court in Lilongwe on Wednesday reserved its ruling on Kasambara’s bail application to November 22 2013.

Manuel Theu and George Mwale, lawyers representing Kasambara, Wednesday applied to the High Court in Lilongwe to release their client on grounds that he was unwell and not a flight risk.

They presented to High Court Judge Esme Chombo affidavits from a prison medical doctor, Henry Ndindi, and an independent doctor, Victor Madhlopa, who recommended that Kasambara should receive specialist treatment either at Mwaiwathu Private Hospital in Blantyre or in South Africa.

“Mr. Kasambara has a medical condition and that is an issue that the State will have to address within its own normal administration,” Theu told journalists after leaving Chombo’s chambers.

The lawyers also argued that Kasambara was a renowned lawyer with a law firm and other businesses; hence, he was not a flight risk.

The lawyers also complained that they were prompted to transfer the bail application to the High Court’s Mzuzu registry because the court’s Lilongwe registry did not treat their application to release Kasambara, habeas corpus, with the urgency it deserved.

But Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Bruno Kalemba argued that the State has the capacity to care for Kasambara and that it was ready to provide private doctors for him if he wished.

While pleading to keep Kasambara in custody for an additional 30 days pending conclusion of investigations, Kalemba said the State would facilitate that the suspect travel to Zomba to be attended to by the Malawi Prison Service doctor.

But Chombo reserved her ruling for the morning of next Friday, November 22 where she will decide whether Kasambara should remain in custody at Kachere Juvenile Prison or be released on bail.

Meanwhile, Kasambara, his former bodyguard, Keston Gani and Pika Manondo have been charged with attempting to murder Ministry of Finance budget director Paul Mphwiyo in Lilongwe’s Area 43 residential estate on September 13 this year.

Bullets which were found in Mphwiyo’s body have allegedly been traced to a gun belonging to Gani, a police officer who was on duty when Kasambara was heading the Ministry of Justice.

Their cases have been committed to the High Court in Lilongwe.

In a related development, hearing of the fraud and theft by a public servant case against Accountant General principal accountant Roosevelt Ndovi failed to take place on Wednesday as Lilongwe chief resident magistrate Ruth Chinangwa was not available.

Ndovi was arrested after being found with K3 million (about $7 500) cash as he left his Capital Hill office and $25 400 at his house in Area 25 in Lilongwe.