Malawi Congress Party (MCP) secretary general Richard Chimwendo Banda has filed an urgent appeal in the Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal to stay a 90-day remand warrant the Lilongwe Chief Resident Magistrate’s Court issued on December 15 2025.
Meanwhile, Justice of Appeal Dorothy Nyakaunda Kamanga has set January 9 2026 (tomorrow) for hearing of the appeal. Chimwendo Banda is also awaiting a High Court ruling on his bail application before Justice Mzonde Mvula.
In an interview yesterday, Judiciary spokesperson Ruth Mputeni said the former Cabinet minister, who is currently on remand at Maula Prison, sought an order to stay or suspend the warrant.
She said: “The applicant has cited several constitutional and procedural irregularities and what he is seeking from the Supreme Court of Appeal is an order staying or suspending execution of the remand warrant pending appeal.
“But also, direction that any further criminal proceedings by the respondent against him be commenced by summons rather than appeal.”
Following the application, Mputeni disclosed that Nyakauda Kamanga will hold an inter-partes hearing tomorrow.
Chimwendo Banda’s lawyer, George Jivason Kadzipatike, in a separate interview, said the application for bail in the High Court and the application for stay of the remand warrant in the Supreme Court of Appeal are different.
“What we want is the quickest release of Honourable Chimwendo from the unlawful detention. He is innocent and the State has not provided any piece of evidence linking him to the allegations of attempted murder up to now.
“A minute in unlawful detention is too long. Should the High Court deliver its ruling, there will be no need to proceed with the application in the Supreme Court of Appeal,” he said.
Mvula on December 24 2025 heard the bail application and is yet to rule on the matter after hearing submissions from both the defence and State.
The Dowa East legislator, accused of attempted murder of Frank Chawanda in February 2021, was remanded on December 29 2025 after being discharged from hospital.
Chief resident magistrate Austin Banda had earlier ordered that Chimwendo Banda be remanded to prison, but should receive treatment following a defence application that police had allegedly ignored requests for medical attention.
Meanwhile, more voices are emerging from within the MCP criticising Chimwendo Banda’s continued detention.
Writing on his Facebook page yesterday, MCP director of youth Baba Steven Malondera argued that detention without trial is not only unjust but illegal.
“I call upon the State and the Judiciary to act urgently, transparently and lawfully. Justice delayed is justice denied and justice denied is a spark that can ignite instability,” he said.
Malondera warned of declining patience for what “increasingly appears to be calculated sluggishness” but still urged calm among the party’s followers.
In a separate post on Facebook on Monday, MCP Lilongwe Mpenu parliamentarian Eisenhower Mkaka demanded bail ruling and that formal charges should be levelled against Chimwendo Banda.
He said: “If there are genuine public-safety concerns, they must be articulated in open court and tested by the judicial process. If there are none, he must be released at once and afforded necessary medical care.
“Failure to do so will certify the claim that what is going on is political persecution and it will be confronted as such.”
