Court adjourns as third UTM witness takes stand

 The Constitutional Court sitting in Lilongwe has adjourned until Monday when it will continue hearing testimony from one of the witnesses for UTM presidential candidate Saulos Chilima.

Chilima, who is first petitioner in the case, is alongside Malawi Congress Party (MCP) president Lazarus Chakwera (second petitioner), challenging the re-election of President Peter Mutharika, alleging that the presidential results in May were marred by irregularities and fraud.

Yesterday, Darlington Ndasauka, who was UTM’s consulting team leader at the National Tally Centre in Blantyre during the vote tallying and tabulation process, took to the dock for cross-examination by lawyers representing Mutharika, who is first respondent in the case, and lawyers representing the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC), the second respondent.

The Attorney General Kalekeni Kaphale, who is representing MEC in his capacity as Chief Legal Adviser for government, was the first to ask questions, but his cross-examination of Ndasauka was limited to 20 minutes, following MEC legal team’s failure, earlier, to apply to court to be allowed to cross-examine all remaining UTM witnesses.

Ndasauka’s testimony, like the previous witness, Miriam Gwalidi, dwelt on altered result sheets. The cross-examination by lawyer Frank Mbeta, who took over from Kaphale, is expected to finish on Monday, according to an undertaking the lawyer made in court