Chakwera pardons Uladi, 199 others
President Lazarus Chakwera has pardoned former minister of Homeland Security Uladi Mussa alongside 199 others as part of the celebration of this year’s Easter season.
Minister of Homeland Security Ken Zikhale Ng’oma said in interview yesterday the President has also pardoned Mussa John, a teenager convicted and sentenced to three years imprisonment for being found in possession of 134 kilogrammes of Indian hemp.
He said Jones Tewesa, the driver of already pardoned former Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) Commissioner Linda Kunje, has also received Chakwera’s mercy.
Ng’oma said: “It is indeed true that President Lazarus Chakwera has pardoned on humanitarian grounds Uladi Mussa, Kunje’s driver and this young man [John] who was involved in selling Indian hemp. The President has also pardoned several women who were jailed and have young children. This is part of the Easter celebrations.”
In an interview yesterday, John’s lawyer Chikondi Chijozi said she was delighted with the President’s action.
“We hope that the experience will shape John’s life for the better. Our prisons remain highly congested and we can only hope that the President will extend the same to those in Mussa’s situation,” she said.
In November last year, High Court of Malawi Judge Vikochi Chima dismissed an application by John for bail pending appeal on the basis that there were no exceptional circumstances to warrant granting bail.
On the other hand, in April last year Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal also dismissed Uladi’s application for bail pending hearing and determination of his appeal in the abuse of office case. He was serving a five-year jail term for abuse of office while he served as Minister of Home Affairs in the Peter Mutharika administration
Through lawyer Chancy Gondwe, Uladi cited the possibility of his appeal succeeding and delays in processing the appeal due to lack of a court quorum, as factors to justify his application.
But Justice of Appeal Lovemore Chikopa noted that the application did not show what interest of justice would be served if he was granted bail pending appeal.
Uladi was in 2020 sentenced to five years imprisonment alongside former regional Immigration officer David Kwanjana and businessperson Peter Katasya.
In the appeal, Uladi and his co-convicts argued that High Court Judge Chifundo Kachale erred in finding them with a case to answer when there was no sufficient evidence to prove the case of neglect of duty or abuse of office.
Uladi and Kwanjana were each handed prison sentences of 12 months for neglecting public duties and five years for abuse of public office.
