The Lilongwe Senior Resident Magistrate’s Court has given the State a February 10 2026 deadline to serve the defence with documents in the case against former Cabinet ministers Jessie Kabwila and Vitumbiko Mumba.
When the court reconvened for plea taking in the case where the duo is accused of publishing false information likely to cause public alarm through a post-September 16 2025 General Election press briefing themed ‘We got this’, the defence brought to the attention of the court that the State did not comply with its earlier order to serve disclosures.
Defence lawyer Khwima Mchizi said the situation rendered their side unprepared and applied for variation of bail conditions, arguing that the State’s failure to prosecute the matter was inconveniencing the suspects.
“It is clear the State is not ready. Since the State is not ready, we pray that the court should vary bail conditions, particularly the surrender of travel documents,” he said.
Senior resident magistrate Bracious Kondowe ordered the State to serve disclosures on the defence by February 10 and set plea-taking for February 23 2026.
“Failing to serve disclosures for over a month is uncalled for, especially when the court already issued an order,” he said. “That order is still binding. If the court makes an order, there are no two ways about it.”
Kondowe said if the State had challenges, it should have applied for an extension instead of disregarding a court order.
To address the non-compliance, the magistrate ruled that the court would not grant adjournments on the basis of disclosures not being served and barred the State from relying on any evidence not disclosed to the defence.
State lawyer Edward Patridge told the court that arrangements were being made to compile the documents and said he was informed that the police prosecutor handling the matter was in Ntcheu attending to other duties.
Meanwhile, the court dismissed the defence’s application for variation of bail conditions.
Kabwila and Mumba were arrested in December 2025 following a press conference held in September, before the Malawi Electoral Commission announced results of the September 16 elections, during which they alleged election rigging by the Democratic Progressive Party. They were released on bail on December 15 2025.
